The correlation of perceived stress and professional concerns during COVID-19 pandemic among Iranian dentists: the mediating role of cognitive flexibility

Authors

  • Afrooz Afshari Department of psychology, faculty of educational science and psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
  • Seyedehsareh Hashemikamangar Department of psychology, master student of clinical psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
  • Sedighe Sadat Hashemikamangar Associate Professor, Tehran University of medical sciences https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7015-7527

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/d3000.2021.119

Keywords:

COVID-19, dentists, professional concerns, perceived stress, psychological flexibility

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the association of perceived stress and dental work-related concerns regarding to COVID-19 by mediating role of cognitive flexibility among dentists during pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran.

Methods: This study was a cross sectional survey conducted by means of a confidential on-line survey on 174 Iranian dentists. COVID-19 related questions were divided to three parts: dentists’ perspective about their career future, virus contagion and concerns of getting infected COVID-19 from patients, and paucity of information and facilities to control the spread of the virus. Perceived stress and psychological flexibility were assessed by PSS (Cohen et al., 1983) and CFI (Dennis et al., 2010). To analyze data path analysis method was used.

Results: Perceived stress significantly predicted psychological flexibility (both alternatives and control subscales) and COVID-19 factors related to dental work In addition, control subscale significantly predicted dentists’ concerns toward their career future and fear of COVID-19 contagion. Hence, control subscale of cognitive flexibility mediated the relationship of perceived stress and professional concerns of dentists during COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: Given these results, elevated stress during an infectious disease outbreak can effect (have impact on) perceived stress and professional concerns among dentists. Different aspects of dentists’ lives can be affected by those concerns and stress. Interventions to enhance the cognitive flexibility should be applied to reduce the psychological burden of the crisis for dentists.

References

Lu C-w, Liu X-f, Jia Z-f. 2019-nCoV transmission through the ocular surface must not be ignored. Lancet (London, England). 2020;395(10224):e39.

Peng X, Xu X, Li Y, Cheng L, Zhou X, Ren B. Transmission routes of 2019-nCoV and controls in dental practice. International Journal of Oral Science. 2020;12(1):1-6.

Tsamakis K, Rizos E, Manolis AJ, Chaidou S, Kympouropoulos S, Spartalis E, et al. [Comment] COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on mental health of healthcare professionals. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine. 2020;19(6):3451-3.

Huang L, Wang Y, Liu J, Ye PF, Cheng BC, Xu HY, et al. Factors Associated with Resilience Among Medical Staff in Radiology Departments During The Outbreak of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): A Cross-Sectional Study. Medical Science Monitor. 2020;26.

Bohlken J, Schomig F, Lemke MR, Pumberger M, Riedel-Heller SG. COVID-19 Pandemic: Stress Experience of Healthcare Workers A Short Current Review. Psychiatrische Praxis. 2020;47(4):190-7.

Xu J, Xu QH, Wang CM, Wang J. Psychological status of surgical staff during the COVID-19 outbreak. Psychiatry Research. 2020 Jun;288:112955.doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112955. Epub 2020 Apr 11.

Balasubramanian A, Paleri V, Bennett R, Paleri V. Impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of surgeons and coping strategies. Head and Neck-Journal for the Sciences and Specialties of the Head and Neck. 2020 Jul;42(7):1638-1644

Backer JA, Klinkenberg D, Wallinga J. Incubation period of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infections among travellers from Wuhan, China, 20–28 January 2020. Eurosurveillance. 2020;25(5):2000062.

Jahić IM, Bukejlović J, Alić-Drina S, Nakaš E. Assessment of Stress among Doctors of Dental Medicine. Acta Stomatologica Croatica. 2019;53(4):354.

Stangvaltaite‐Mouhat L, Pūrienė A, Chałas R, Hysi D, Katrova L, Nacaite M, et al. Self‐reported psychological problems amongst undergraduate dental students: A pilot study in seven European countries. European Journal of Dental Education. 2020;24(2):341-50.

Salazar FBC, Sipiyaruk K, White S, Gallagher JE. Key determinants of health and wellbeing of dentists within the UK: a rapid review of over two decades of research. British dental journal. 2019;227(2):127-36.

Shacham M, Hamama-Raz Y, Kolerman R, Mijiritsky O, Ben-Ezra M, Mijiritsky E. COVID-19 Factors and Psychological Factors Associated with Elevated Psychological Distress among Dentists and Dental Hygienists in Israel. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020;17(8):2900.

Lazarus RS. Stress and emotion: A new synthesis. Springer Publishing Company; 2006 May 4.

Dennis JP, Vander Wal JS. The cognitive flexibility inventory: Instrument development and estimates of reliability and validity. Cognitive therapy and research. 2010;34(3):241-53.

Gabrys RL, Howell JW, Cebulski SF, Anismana H, Matheson K. Acute stressor effects on cognitive flexibility: Mediating role of stressor appraisals and cortisol. Stress. 2019;22(2):182-9.

Crum AJ, Akinola M, Martin A, Fath S. The role of stress mindset in shaping cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to challenging and threatening stress. Anxiety, stress, & coping. 2017;30(4):379-95.

Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of health and social behavior. 1983:385-96.

Safaei M, Shokri O. Assessing stress in cancer patients: Factorial validity of the perceived stress scale in Iran. IRANIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC NURSING (IJPN). 2014;2(1):13-22.

Hair JF, Black WC, Babin BJ, Anderson RE, Tatham RL. Multivariate data analysis (Vol. 6): Pearson Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River.

S Farrukh, W Hussain, ZS Siddiqui. Assessment of Anxiety among Healthcare Professionals Working on Frontline against COVID-19. Biomedica 2020 Vol. 36, Special Issue, 256 – 260

Downloads

Published

2021-01-06

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Adults & the Elderly

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.