Affiliations 

  • 1 Tropical Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
  • 2 School of Public Health and Research, Somali National University, Mogadishu, Somalia
  • 3 Internal Medicine Department, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
  • 4 Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine & Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
  • 5 Department of Neurology, Ibn Sina Hospital, Sabah Medical Region, Kuwait City, Kuwait
  • 6 Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • 7 Department of Epidemiology and Population Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • 8 Clinical Research Department, El-Raml Pediatric Hospital, Ministry of Health and Population, Alexandria, Egypt
  • 9 Department of Epidemiology, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
  • 10 Research Centre in Genomics of Human Pathologies, Faculty of Science, Mohammed V University in Rabat, Rabat, Morocco
  • 11 Department of Clinical Research, Maamoura Chest Hospital, MoHP, Alexandria, Egypt
  • 12 Department of Pharmacy, Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar
  • 13 Quality & Accreditation, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum, Sudan
  • 14 Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman
  • 15 Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
  • 16 Laboratory of Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
  • 17 Ministry of Public Health and Population, Sanaa, Yemen
  • 18 Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Palestine
  • 19 Department of Public Health, Medical Research Office, Sudanese Medical Research Association, Khartoum, Sudan
  • 20 Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
Front Public Health, 2022;10:917128.
PMID: 36408035 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.917128

Abstract

Background: Assessment of the quality of life (QoL) among healthcare workers (HCWs) is vital for better healthcare and is an essential indicator for competent health service delivery. Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic strike, the frontline position of HCWs subjected them to tremendous mental and psychological burden with a high risk of virus acquisition.

Aim: This study evaluated the QoL and its influencing factors among HCWs residing in the Arab countries.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using a self-administered online questionnaire based on the World Health Organization QoL-BREF instrument with additional questions related to COVID-19. The study was conducted in three different languages (Arabic, English, and French) across 19 Arab countries between February 22 and March 24, 2022.

Results: A total of 3,170 HCWs were included in the survey. The majority were females (75.3%), aged 18-40 years (76.4%), urban residents (90.4%), married (54.5%), and were living in middle-income countries (72.0%). The mean scores of general health and general QoL were 3.7 ± 1.0 and 3.7 ± 0.9, respectively. Those who attained average physical, psychological, social, and environmental QoL were 40.8, 15.4, 26.2, and 22.3%, respectively. The income per capita and country income affected the mean scores of all QoL domains. Previous COVID-19 infection, having relatives who died of COVID-19, and being vaccinated against COVID-19 significantly affected the mean scores of different domains.

Conclusion: A large proportion of the Arab HCWs evaluated in this study had an overall poor QoL. More attention should be directed to this vulnerable group to ensure their productivity and service provision.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.