2Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston-ABD
3Department of Psychiatry, Namık Kemal University Faculty of Medicine, Tekirdağ-Turkey
4Department of Health Care Management, Hacı Bayram University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ankara-Turkey
5Department of Radiation Oncology, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana-Turkey DOI : 10.5505/tjo.2021.3329 OBJECTIVE
We surveyed the anxiety, depression, and secondary trauma levels of Turkish Radiation Oncologists related with COVID pandemics.
METHODS
An anonymous online questionnaire survey was created to evaluate levels of depression, anxiety, and
secondary trauma among Turkish Radiation Oncologists. The survey included demographics and occupational
status, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSSS), The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), The
Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).
RESULTS
Seventy-two respondents provided the power of about 91.4% for the significance level of 0.05. The variance
homogeneity was checked by the Levene test, the effect of COVID-19 on psychology is higher
in the group of >19 (9.02±0.820), as well as the effect of social isolation (8.02±1.622), the STSS scores
(34.28±9.062), the STAIS scores (60.46±5.296), the STAIT scores (82.21±9.298), the BDI scores
(22.68±2.788), and the BAI scores (21.04±9.321). The multiple regressions to estimate BDI revealed statistically
significant effects in STAIS, BAI, and STAIT. There is a significant correlation between STSS,
STAIS, STAIT, BDI, BAI, the effect of COVID-19 on psychology, and the effect of social isolation.
CONCLUSION
We have established one of the first studies demonstrating the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on depression,
anxiety levels, and secondary trauma on a special physician population, the Radiation Oncologists,
who specifically do not directly take part in COVID19 management.