EFFICACY OF INTEGRATED YOGA INTERVENTION ON PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES OF COVID-19 HEALTHCARE WORKERS

COVID-19 is an infectiousdisease caused by recently discovered novel coronavirus (World Health Organization, 2020a). Coronavirusesare a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. Inhumans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections rangingfrom the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East RespiratorySyndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) (National Health Mission, 2020). The mostrecently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease COVID-19 (World Health Organization, 2020).

Medical staffs are the backbone of the fight in the firstline of epidemic prevention and control, endure heavy work tasks, high risk ofinfection and work pressure (Wu et al., 2020).Medical staff is facing workpressure and psychological pressure, which may have a certain impact on theiremotional state and engender psychological stress (Duan et al.,2020). During the COVID-19 outbreak, medical health workers hadpsychosocial problems and risk factors for developing them (W. R. Zhang etal., 2020). Yogaand mindfulness administered together seem to be effective to reduce stress andanxiety in healthcare workers, providing them with more consciousness andability to manage work stressful demands (La Torre et al., 2020). TheHarvard Medical School in the US has recommended yoga, meditation andcontrolled breathing to address anxiety issues related to the novel coronavirus (Sharp,2020).