The correlation of perceived stress and professional concerns during COVID-19 pandemic among Iranian dentists: the mediating role of cognitive flexibility

Abstract

Objec&ve: To evaluate the associa.on of perceived stress and dental work-related concerns regarding to COVID-19 by media.ng role of cogni.ve flexibility among den.sts during pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran. Methods: This study was a cross-sec.onal survey conducted by means of a confiden.al on-line survey on 174 Iranian den.sts. COVID-19 related ques.ons were divided into three parts: den.sts’ perspec.ve about their career future, virus contagion and concerns of geLng infected COVID-19 from pa.ents, and paucity of informa.on and facili.es to control the spread of the virus. Perceived stress and psychological flexibility were assessed by PSS (Cohen et al., 1983) and CFI (Dennis et al., 2010). To analyze the data path analysis method was used. Results: Perceived stress significantly predicted psychological flexibility (both alterna.ves and control subscales) and COVID-19 factors related to dental work. In addi.on, the control subscale significantly predicted den.sts’ concerns toward their career future and fear of COVID-19 contagion. Hence, control subscale of cogni.ve flexibility mediated the rela.onship of perceived stress and professional concerns of den.sts during COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Given these results, elevated stress during an infec.ous disease outbreak can affect (have an impact on) perceived stress and professional concerns among den.sts. Different aspects of den.sts’ lives can be affected by those concerns and stress. Interven.ons to enhance cogni.ve flexibility should be applied to reduce the psychological burden of the crisis for den.sts. Copyright: ©2020 Afshari A, et al.