Perceived Stress and Covid-19 Pandemic: A Web-Based Survey of Paramedical Staff in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The direct contact of the paramedical staff with the patients and the significant risk of getting an infection during the Covid-19 outbreak make their job more stressful. The current study aims to measure the prevalence of stress levels among the paramedical staff members during the Covid-19 pandemic. Paramedical staff working in the hospitals of Punjab province, Pakistan, aged 25 to 40 were respondents of the study. A sample of 312 paramedical staff members was taken through a snowball sampling technique because of the web-based survey. The data was collected through a questionnaire on an online platform. The questionnaire link was distributed among the paramedical staff workers of different public hospitals to record the demographic information and stress on Covid-19 Perceived stress scale (PSS-10-C). SPSS 26 was used to analyze the data, and the association between the variables was computed using Chi-Square. The mean difference among the independent variables showing the stress was calculated with the help of a t-test and ANOVA. Demographic factors like gender, family type, occupational category, and individual family income were significantly associated with the level of stress. The identified results indicated the need for stress management programs at the hospital level aimed at paramedical staff.