Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Medical Support Staff in Bangladesh During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Authors

  • Faisal Ahmed Deputy Civil Surgeon, Civil Surgeon’s Office, Mymensingh https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8780-5196
  • Tansiv Zubayer Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer. Bhanga Upazila Health Complex, Bhanga, Faridpur.
  • Md Ali Ajim Lecturer, Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka.
  • Masum Billah Medical Officer (Unani), Upazila Health Complex, Amtoli, Barguna.
  • Jannat Ara Assistant Registrar, Department of Pediatrics Hematology and Oncology, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital
  • Radaur Rahman Khan Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry, Mymensingh Medical College.
  • Maymunah Mahmood Indoor Medical Officer, Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.
  • Fahmida Akter Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, NIPSOM.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3329/jopsom.v44i1.88186

Keywords:

Prevalence, Pandemic, IES-R, PTSD, Medical Support Staff

Abstract

Background: The healthcare professionals, especially the medical support staff, suffered a huge physical as well as psychological trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic. By recognizing their role as frontline workers, they were the most exposed group who faced the terrifying virus, which created mental health problems during the pandemic. The purpose of this study is to find the prevalence of PTSD among medical support staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was designed to assess the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among purposefully selected 289 medical support staff working at treating COVID-19 patients in government hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-r) was used to prepare the questionnaire.

Results: The mean age of the medical support staff was 31.09±8.91 years. All of them suffered from mild to severe types of PTSD. Most of the participants were male (65.7%), aged between 26 to 35 years (46.7%), married (70.6%), working indoors (64.4%), and living with family (73.4%). 65.1% of the participants didn’t have any co-morbidities, 12.1% of the participants were suffering from hypertension, 11.4% of them were suffering from asthma/copd, 8.0% were suffering from diabetes, and the rest of them were suffering from other chronic diseases. This study also found that about two-thirds of the participants (181) were suffering from mild PTSD.

Conclusion: Appropriate measures were urgent to make the frontliner health care support staff’s mental health conditions recognized and well-treated, as well as for prevention.

JOPSOM 2025; 44(1): 45-53

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Published

2026-03-10

How to Cite

Ahmed, F., Zubayer, T., Ajim, M. A., Billah, M., Ara, J., Khan, R. R., … Akter, F. (2026). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Medical Support Staff in Bangladesh During the Covid-19 Pandemic . Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 44(1), 45–53. https://doi.org/10.3329/jopsom.v44i1.88186

Issue

Vol. 44 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Faisal Ahmed, Tansiv Zubayer, Md Ali Ajim, Masum Billah, Jannat Ara, Radaur Rahman Khan, Maymunah Mahmood, Fahmida Akter

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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