ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 pandemic causes serious threats to physical health and triggers wide varieties of psychological problems, including anxiety and depression. Youth exhibit a greater risk of developing psychological distress, especially during epidemics influencing their wellbeing. Objectives: To identify the relevant dimensions of psychological stress, mental health, hope and resilience and to examine the prevalence of stress in Indian youth and its relationship with socio-demographic information, online-mode of teaching, hope and resilience. Method: A cross-sectional online survey obtained information on socio-demographic background, online-mode of teaching, psychological stress, hope and resilience from the Indian youth. A Factor Analysis is also conducted on the recompenses of the Indian youth on psychological stress, mental health, hope and resilience separately to identify the major factors associated with parameters. The sample size in this study was 317, which is more than the required sample size (Tabachnik et al., 2001). Results: About 87% of the Indian youth perceived moderate to a high levels of psychological stress during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Different demographic, sociographic and psychographic segments were found to have high stress levels due to the pandemic, while psychological stress was found to be negatively correlated with resilience as well as hope. The findings identified significant dimensions of the stress caused by the pandemic and also identified the dimensions of mental health, resilience and hope among the study subjects. Conclusion: As stress has a long-term impact on human psychology and can disrupt the lives of people and as the findings suggest that the young population of the country have faced the greatest amount of stress during the pandemic, a greater need for mental health support is required to the young population, especially in post pandemic situations. The integration of online counselling and stress management programs could assist in mitigating the stress of youth involved in distance learning.
ABSTRACT
Health care workers are exposed to numerous workplace hazards. The implementation of safety measures in high-income countries has largely mitigated these risks. However, in many low- and middle- income countries (LMICs), resources to institute safety measures are lacking, increasing the risk of occupational exposures to these hazards. The aim of this scoping review is to map and synthesize the available research on occupational hazards among health care workers in LMICs, identify research gaps and inform policy. Searches for relevant articles were conducted in five electronic databases using a broad range of search terms. The inclusion criteria were: quantitative observational or experimental studies which examined exposure to one or more occupational hazards among health care workers in a LMCI; and the article was published in English in a peer-reviewed journal. A total of 99 studies met the inclusion criteria, and data were extracted from these studies. Large proportions of health care workers in LMICs were exposed to biological hazards (bloodborne pathogens, tuberculosis), psychosocial hazards (workplace violence, burnout, job dissatisfaction), ergonomic hazards (musculoskeletal complaints), and chemical hazards (exposure to latex and antineoplastic drugs). The implementation of risk reduction strategies was suboptimal. The majority of the literature was on biological hazards (48%), and research on other hazards was limited in comparison. Occupational safety needs to become a priority public health issue to protect health care workers in LMICs. More research is needed to understand the magnitude of the problem in these countries.