Impact of COVID-19 on mental health of healthcare professionals working in COVID-19 designated clinical areas in India

Authors

  • Kamlesh Kumari Sharma College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Ravneet Kaur Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Muthuvenkatachalam Srinivasan College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Siddarth Sarkar Department of Psychiatry and NDDTC, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Kalaivani Mani Department of Biostatistics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Yamya Sharma Department of Neurology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Sandhya Gupta College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20210835

Keywords:

COVID-19, Mental health outcomes, Health care workers

Abstract

Background: In the wake of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019, there are reports of its impact on psychological wellbeing of the health care workers.

Methods:   This cross-sectional survey was conducted in June 2020 in a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, India among conveniently sampled 93 participants i.e. doctors and nurses directly engaged in clinical activities in COVID-19 designated areas. A self-administered questionnaire through Google forms elicited symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and distress measured using the 9-item patient health questionnaire, 7-item generalized anxiety disorder scale, 7-item insomnia severity index, and 22-item impact of event scale-revised respectively.

Results: Majority (53.8%) of the participants were male and their mean age was 30.2 years.  Most (72%) were nurses, the rest being doctors.  A substantial proportion of the participants had depression (47.4% of the sample), anxiety (29.0%), insomnia (32.3%) and distress (22.6%). Symptoms were disproportionately higher in female and single participants, nurses; those with history of chronic illness, staying in institute provided temporary accommodation, working on regular basis and perceiving lack of adequate personal protective equipment. Taking prophylactic hydroxychloroquine was associated with lower symptom rates.

Conclusions: This survey revealed a considerable prevalence of mental health outcomes in HCWs demonstrating an association with age, gender; marital, professional and employment status, history of chronic illness, access to PPE, stay at institute provided temporary accommodation and prophylactic hydroxychloroquine use.

References

World Health organization. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Reports. Available at: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/corona-viruse/situation-reports/wou-18-september-2020-cleared.pdf?sfvrsn=be6111c8_2. Accessed on 20 November 2020.

Ministry of health and family welfare. COVID-19 INDIA as on: 20 September2020. Available at: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/. Accessed on 20 November 2020.

Adams JG, Walls RM. Supporting the Health Care Workforce During the COVID-19 Global Epidemic. JAMA. 2020;323(15):1439-40.

Chen Q, Liang M, Li Y. Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7:e15-6.

Choi KR, Skrine Jeffers K, Cynthia Logsdon M. Nursing and the novel coronavirus: Risks and responsibilities in a global outbreak. J Adv Nurs. 2020;76(7):1486-7.

Kang L, Li Y, Hu S. The mental health of medical workers in Wuhan, China dealing with the 2019 novel coronavirus. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7:e14.

Koh D. Occupational risks for COVID-19 infection. Occup Med. 2020;70:3-5.

Greenberg N, Docherty M, Gnanapragasam S, Wessely S. Managing mental health challenges faced by healthcare workers during covid-19 pandemic. BMJ. 2020;368:m1211.

Zhang WR, Wang K, Yin L, Zhao WF, Xue Q, Peng M, et al. Mental Health and Psychosocial Problems of Medical Health Workers during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China. Psychother Psychosom. 2020;89 (4):242-50.

Lai J, Ma S, Wang Y. Factors associated with mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to coronavirus disease 2019. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(3):e203976.

Tan BYQ, Chew NWS, Lee GKH. Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on health care workers in singapore. Ann Intern Med. 2020;173 (4):317-20.

Chew NWS, Lee GKH, Tan BYQ, Jing M, Goh Y, Ngiam NJH, et al. A multinational, multicentre study on the psychological outcomes and associated physical symptoms amongst healthcare workers during COVID-19 outbreak. Brain Behav Immun. 2020;88:559-65.

Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001;16(9):606-13.

Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB, Löwe B. A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: The GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166: 1092-7.

Bastien CH, Vallieres A, Morin CM. Validation of insomnia severity index as an outcome measure for insomnia research. Sleep Med. 2001;2:297-307.

The impact of event scale-revised (IES-R). The Hartford institute for geriatric nursing, new york university, rory meyers college of nursing I. Available at: https://consultgeri.org/try-this/general-assessment/issue-19.pdf. Accessed on 20 November 2020.

Hakim A, Tak H, Nagar S, Bhansali S. Assessment of prevalence of depression and anxiety and factors associated with them in undergraduate medical students of Dr. S. N. Medical College, Jodhpur. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017;4:3267-72.

Veqar Z, Hussain ME. Validity and reliability of insomnia severity index and its correlation with pittsburgh sleep quality index in poor sleepers among Indian university students. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2017;32(1):485-92.

Varshney M, Parel JT, Raizada N, Sarin SK. Initial psychological impact of COVID-19 and its correlates in Indian community: an online (FEEL-COVID) survey. PLoS One. 2020;15(5):e0233874.

Creamer M, Bell R, Failla S. Psychometric properties of the impact of event scale - revised. Behav Res Ther. 2003;41(12):1489-96.

Martini N, Piccinni C, Pedrini A, Maggioni A. COVID-19 and chronic diseases: current knowledge, future steps and the MaCroScopio project. Recenti Prog Med. 2020;111(4):198-201.

Downloads

Published

2021-02-24

How to Cite

Sharma, K. K., Kaur, R., Srinivasan, M., Sarkar, S., Mani, K., Sharma, Y., & Gupta, S. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on mental health of healthcare professionals working in COVID-19 designated clinical areas in India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 8(3), 1406–1414. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20210835

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles