Stress levels of healthcare workers in the COVID -19 pandemic in relation to gender roles: Is the problem limited to the work?

Abstract

Objective: In addition to many medical consequences, COVID-19 pandemic has also caused some social changes especially for healthcare workers working in the front lines of the pandemic. However, this has not affected everyone equally and gender roles became a determinant especially in domestic life. Method: In this cross-sectional study with a sample of 670 healthcare workers in Turkey; a sociodemographic data form, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Gender Roles Attitude Scale (GRAS) were applied to examine stress levels and their relationship with gender roles. Results: Mean PSS scores were significantly higher in women (27.03) healthcare workers than men (23.14) Women who did all or most of the housework on their own were almost three times the men (67.2% vs 22.9%) and this increased stress levels of women. In the GRAS, female participants had higher scores (173.2) than male participants (161.8); which means they were more egalitarian, and academic degree or job did not affect GRAS. Discussion: Besides many challenges related with working in pandemic period; women healthcare workers face additional distress because of the gender roles. Analyzing the effects of the pandemic without gender dimensions may be insufficient to fully understand the public health aspect of the pandemic.