Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Globally, novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly since it was first identified and challenging the provision of essential services for low-resource countries. Healthcare workers involved in providing care are at high risk of developing mental health problems. The aim of this was to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms due to COVID-19 and associated factors among healthcare workers in the West Guji zone in public health facilities, southern Ethiopia. METHODS: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in public health facilities found in the West Guji zone. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select 283 study subjects. This study was used to assess the prevalence of depression symptoms using Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21, a depression subscale. Descriptive statistics, binary and multiple logistic regressions were used. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% confidence interval will be estimated to assess the strength of associations and statistical significance will be declared at a p-value < 0.05. RESULTS: Out of 283 eligible healthcare workers, 275 respondents had participated in this study with a 97.2% response rate. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 21.5%. The independent predictors associated with depressive symptoms due to COVID-19 were age (adjusted odds ratio = 2.35, 95% confidence interval = 1.126-3.95), family size (adjusted odds ratio = 3.56, 95% confidence interval = 1.09-11.62), alcohol use (adjusted odds ratio = 4.31, 95% confidence interval = 1.76-10.55), medical illness (adjusted odds ratio = 9.56, 95% confidence interval = 3.71-24.59), having training on COVID-19 (adjusted odds ratio = 0.37, 95% confidence interval = 0.17-0.81), and lack of knowledge on COVID-19 (adjusted odds ratio = 15.34, 95% confidence interval = 6.32-37.21). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of depressive symptoms among healthcare workers due to COVID-19 was high. Factors associated with depressive symptoms were age, family size, alcohol use, medical illness, having training on COVID-19, and lack of knowledge on COVID-19.