Fear and depression are some of the psychological problems experienced by frontline healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients in isolation centres.  The objective of this study was to study the level of fear, depression, and coping strategies among frontline healthcare workers in two COVID-19 isolation centres. The study implemented a cross sectional descriptive research design. One hundred and eighty-one frontline health care workers were selected in two COVID-19 isolation centres with convenience sampling technique. A validated questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency of 0.65 to 0.89 was used for data collection. Questionnaire was sent online to respondent through Whatsapp group platform to the two COVID-19 isolation centres.  Data collected was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.  Statistical test was set at 5% level of significance. The result showed that fifty-seven (31.5%) agreed that COVID-19 is a new disease and not much is known about it and because of this, they were afraid. Sixty-nine (38.1%) agreed that despite all the precautionary measures they were still afraid of being infected. Sixty-four (35.4%) strongly agreed that they were afraid because there are a lot of people dying of COVID-19 especially healthcare workers. This result shows that the level of fear among frontline healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19 is high.  Also, the result shows that the level of depression among frontline healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19 is low. In conclusion it is obvious that frontline healthcare workers were afraid of COVID-19 and because of this few of the frontline healthcare workers were depressed which is a cause for concern. It is therefore recommended that psychological support for healthcare workers should be available whenever a pandemic arises.

Keywords: Covid-19, Depression, Fear, Frontline Healthcare Workers,

Cite this article: