Abstract:
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is currently a severe challenge for healthcare workers, with significant
implications for their mental health. Physiotherapy is one of the healthcare professions on the frontline managing this
pandemic and is directly exposed to the virus. The aim of the study was to determine the impact of this pandemic on
the psychological health of physiotherapists in Sri Lanka.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among physiotherapists who were recruited from
government and private hospitals via purposive sampling. Depression-anxiety-stress scale-21 was used to assess
psychological health and was distributed online.
Results: The sample comprised 48 participants (males=33.3%; females=66.7%; age=30.2±3.8 years). The rates with
extremely severe, severe, moderate and mild stress were 4.8%, 33.3%, 35.7% and 16.7% respectively and 9.5% of them
had no stress perceived. No physiotherapists were found in normal or mild anxiety and depression categories. Moderate,
severe and extremely severe anxiety levels were found in 9.5%, 28.6% and 61.9% of physiotherapists respectively.
There were 28.6% physiotherapists with extremely severe depression, 19.0% with severe depression and 52.4% with
moderate depression. There was a positive correlation and a significant association of stress with depression (r=0.876,
p<0.001), stress with anxiety (r=0.780, p<0.001) and anxiety with depression (r=0.752, p<0.001). Stress, anxiety and
depression had no significant associations with age and gender (p>0.05). Fear of infecting family members was found
as the main cause of stress (81%).
Conclusions: Physiotherapists had elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and stress, highlighting the significance of
systematically monitoring physiotherapists’ mental health and implementing supportive measures to improve their well being during the crisi
