Mustafa-Shaibu Maryam

Keywords: Occupational stress, health professionals, psychological wellbeing, COVID-19

Abstract

Occupational stress is a global health phenomenon that affects all workers, particularly health professionals. The overarching purpose of this research was to ascertain the various determinants of occupational stress among health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Benin City. The study adopted the survey design within the context of the one-time cross-sectional design and the target groups were health professionals, male and female doctors and nurses in the COVID-19-approved facilities in Benin City who had worked for at least two years before the COVID era and had sufficient time to comprehend the concerns under investigation. The Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted. The estimated sample size was 1,141 healthcare workers using Krejcie and Morgan’s formula. Analyses were based on 1056 administered questionnaires that were successfully retrieved. The study’s results showed that health professionals experienced occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, individual factors such as gender, age and marital status of health professionals were determinants of occupational stress among health professionals in COVID-19-approved centres in Benin-city. Also, apart from these socio-economic determinants, fear and being in contact with COVID-19 patients were contributing factors to occupational stress during the pandemic. The study concludes that health professionals in Benin City experienced occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the study recommends that health professionals must prioritize their psychological wellbeing during pandemics.

Author Biography

MUSTAFA-SHAIBU, Maryam Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

maryam.mustafa-shaibu@uniben.edu; maryamustafa.m@gmail.com

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