The Relationship between Coronavirus Anxiety and its Consequences on Employees' Mental Health

Abstract

Aim: The present study aimed to determine the relationship between the general health index and Coronavirus anxiety in employees. Methods: The present study was descriptive-correlational so that we selected a sample of 110 male and female employees of public offices in Mashhad using convenience sampling and they responded to Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale by Alipour et al (2019). online and via virtual networks. We analyzed data using Pearson correlation coefficient and regression. Results: The results of data analysis indicated that there was a significant negative correlation between scores of general health indices and Coronavirus anxiety (P<0.001, r=0.36). Furthermore, there was a positive and significant correlation between the coronavirus anxiety index with depression, anxiety, physical status, and general health, but it had an insignificant correlation with social dysfunction (P>0.05, r=0.18). Conclusion: According to the results, the incidence of COVID-19 damaged physical health and also caused mental illnesses. Therefore, it is essential to identify people prone to anxiety and psychological disorders at different levels of society, whose mental health may be endangered due to crises by the current socio-economic status of society, to help maintain the public mental health in society by appropriate intervention and treatment strategies and techniques.