STRESS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN KOSOVO: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused damage in all aspects of society and has been the cause of considerable stress during this period. Each profession has gone through difficult situations during the pandemic period, regardless of work characteristics. The pandemic has affected the course of life on a global scale in almost all countries that implement serious pandemic-related constraints on social life. Thus, it brought serious negative consequences not only for physical health but also in social, psychological, and economic terms, and many people lost their jobs during this period.

The aim of this study was to compare the stress levels of employees of different professions during the second wave of the pandemic. Given that different professions perform different tasks and face different situations, it was necessary to measure the level of stress in the six categories into which we have divided the professions.

The research was conducted through an online survey using the Stress Scale Questionnaire (DASS-21). The target population of the study is composed of people over 18 years of age and above, as well as those who have a profession in which they practice. In this research, which was conducted in the period November-December 2020, a total of 194 participants, 116 females and 78 males, with an average age of 34. 

Data analysis was performed through SPSS. According to the Kruskal-Wallis analysis, there are significant differences in terms of stress levels in the categories of different professions, where the category of lawyer has the highest average level of stress and the category of psychologists resulted in the lowest level of stress during pandemic. While in other research, health workers have shown that they have experienced a very high level of stress, in our research, lawyers are those who have shown the highest level of stress, continuing with health workers, civil workers, teachers and professors, economists, and finally psychologists.

According to the findings of the study, the level of stress in Kosovo society during the situation of COVID-19 varies by profession, where the profession of lawyer shows a higher level of stress than other categories of professions. The findings of our study suggest that there is a need for accessible psychological support interventions for workers of different professions, in particular lawyers and healthcare workers. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the most stressful time of entire professional career for many people. Whether they are working on the front lines or working at home, employees are in need of accessible, equitable mental health benefits These results also lead to the interest of other researchers to look at other variables that may have influenced the results.