Psychological status assessment of medical and dental staff during the covid-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: In the previous times the people has suffered a lot from infectious diseases. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is just arrived viral infection that began in the China, and also included pneumonia in the rest of the world. In the fight of the sudden emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), psychological distress among health care professionals appeared gradually. The Purpose of this study was to measure the occurrence and levels of depression and anxiety among medical and dental staff. Methodology: A cross-sectional study using Google Forms, conducted in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia from June to August 2020. The survey questionnaire included General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Patient's Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) that used to identify influence factors associated with mental dysfunction with 577 participants. Results: From the total sample analyzed (577 participants), the mean scores were 8.5. Based on PHQ-9 scores and participants who have severe depression reached 7%, while; the mean scores were 7.81. Based on GAD-7 scores and reached 14% who had severe anxiety. Conclusion: The current study concludes to self-report psychological problems are prevalent in medical and dental staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the prevalence of anxiety and depression was higher among emergency medical technicians, nurses and physicians compare with the dental staff.