Assessment of Depression in Health Care Workers Dealing with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Patients During the Pandemic

Abstract

Objective: To find frequency and severity of depression among health care workers (HCWs) dealing with
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients during the pandemic
Methods: This cross sectional survey was done at all medical units, Services institute of medical sciences.
Data was collected in 4 weeks of time [1st July, 2020 till 28th July, 2020] using random sampling. A total of
120 health care workers working in medical units of any designation aged 20-60 of either gender were taken.
Their basic demographic information was asked and depression was assessed using Hamilton Depression
(HAM-D) Rating Scale. All data was collected under supervision of principal author. All collected data was
entered and analyzed using SPSS version 24.
Results: The mean age of participants was 26.11 ± 3.14 years with minimum and maximum age as 20 and 36
years. There were 56(46.7%) male and 64(53.3%) female participants. According to their designation,
1(0.8%) was paramedic, 2(1.7%) were nurses, 115(95.8%) medical/house officers and 2(1.7%) were
assistant professor. The frequency of depression in these HCWs was found in 45(37.5%) while mild
depression was seen in 35(29.2%) and moderate depression was seen in 10(8.3%) of the HCWs. There were
was no difference of frequency of depression among male (48.9%) and female (51.1%), p-value = 0.705
Conclusion: It is concluded that the depression was found in more than one third of HCWs during the covid
epidemic so effective and significant strategies must be introduced in improving their psychological and
mental health. By controlling depression they can put their concentrations for quality health care provision.