Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety Sensitivity, and Resilience among Hospital Medical Staff in Rasht, North of Iran during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has extensively affected the public physical and mental health, especially the medical staff working in the COVID-19 wards of hospitals. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety sensitivity (AS), and resilience among hospital medical staff in Rasht, north of Iran, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This is an analytical cross-sectional study. The study population consists of all medical staff working in the COVID-19 wards of Poursina and Razi hospitals in Rasht, Iran. Of these, 94 participated who were selected using a convenience sampling method. Weathers et al.'s post-traumatic stress disorder checklist, Reiss et al.’s AS index, and Connor-Davidson resilience scale were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: There was a significant negative correlation between PTSD and resilience (r = -0.405, P = 0.001). and a significant positive correlation between PTSD and AS (r=0.633, P=0.001). The results of multiple analyses showed that resilience (B=-0.208, P=0.004) and AS (B=0.574, P=0.001) could significantly explain the PTSD in medical staff. Conclusions: Resilience can be an important protective factor against PTSD in hospital medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The medial staff with AS may experience the symptoms of PTSD more.