2.1. Study Groups
The population of this cross-sectional survey study consisted of
healthcare professionals working as family physicians in Turkey.
The data collection period started on 22 December 2020 with a group of
50 people, the majority of whom were physicians working in the Family
Medicine Clinic in XXX XXX Hospital. First of all, data collection forms
were sent to physicians as online questionnaires via e-mail
(GoogleGroups) and communication groups (Facebook, WhatsApp). After
being asked sociodemographic and descriptive questions, the physicians
were administered the SAVE-9 scale consisting of 9 questions and 2
sub-dimensions, which was developed in Korea by Chung et al. in order to
evaluate the extent of stress and anxiety in healthcare professionals,
and then translated into Turkish by Akça and
Bilgiç.6,7 The data collection forms containing the
scale were delivered to other family physicians in the form of an online
questionnaire via e-mail and communication groups by snowball sampling.
After subtracting the answers of 3 participants who declined to
participate in the study, 24 participants whose questionnaires were
received back more than once, and 3 participants who gave inappropriate
answers (such as having more years of professional experience than their
age), the answers of the remaining 500 family physicians from 53
different provinces were recorded and the first phase ended on 11
January 2021.
On 14 January 2021, the period of mass vaccination started first with
healthcare workers in Turkey. In the present study, the scale was
administered once again in March 2021 to 50 family medicine physicians
identified at the beginning of the study, considering that they had
already received two-dose vaccination, and their answers were recorded.
After obtaining permission prior to the study to use the translated
Turkish version of the scale,
the necessary approval was obtained from the Clinical Research Ethics
Committee of XXX XXX with the approval number 20/14 dated 22.12.2020.
The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.