Investigating Stress and Anxiety in employees of Melli Bank branches in Abadan and Khorramshahr, in the first ۶ months of the Covid-۱۹ pandemic

Background and purpose: During the pandemic of the Covid-۱۹ virus, fear and worry reigned in thesocieties, and negative news and rumors about this disease have brought psychologicalconsequences for all sections of the society. Bank employees are among the groups that havebeen exposed to psychological pressure due to their continuous presence at work even duringquarantine. This research was carried out under the supervision of Abadan University ofMedical Sciences with the aim of investigating the level of stress and anxiety in the employeesof Melli Bank branches in Abadan and Khorramshahr during the corona epidemic.Materials and methods: In this descriptive-cross-sectional study, ۱۱۰ employees of Melli Bankbranches in Abadan and Khorramshahr, who were eligible, were included in the study bysystematic random sampling. The data collection tool consisted of two questionnaires, includinga demographic information questionnaire and a depression, anxiety and stress questionnaire(DASS-۲۱). Data were analyzed with SPSS ۲۱ software using frequency distribution tables,graphs, central and dispersion indices, one-way ANOVA, T-TEST and paired T-tests.results: According to the findings, ۹۶ of the participants were male, ۹۷ were over ۳۰ years old, ۹۳ weremarried, ۸۹ had children, ۶۶ had a bachelor's degree, and ۸۷ had more than ۵ years of workexperience. The results indicate that ۷۰ of the participants experienced a severe and very severelevel of stress and ۱۰۸ of the participants experienced the same level of anxiety during theCorona epidemic. This is despite the fact that there was no significant relationship betweenstress and anxiety and demographic factors.Discussion: Based on the findings, most of the participants have experienced severe and very severelevels of stress and anxiety during the Covid-۱۹ pandemic. Due to the fact that bank employeesare required to be at their workplace in special situations such as pandemics, they will alwaysbe under stress and anxiety caused by crises, and this issue puts their mental health at risk.Therefore, it seems necessary for health authorities to pay attention to the mental health of thisgroup and trainings and measures related to it

Keywords:

Covid-۱۹ , stress , anxiety , bank employees , coronavirus