ABSTRACT
Introduction: Although isolation and quarantine are important measures to curb the exponential growth of the prevailing Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, but at same time this can impose psychological issues among the affected population and also to their family members. Aims: To evaluate the mental health problems, their severity and associated factors in quarantined population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 207 quarantined subjects at different quarantine centres of Ajmer, associated with JLN Medical College, Ajmer, from August 2020 to October 2020,after getting approval from ethics committee of the centre. All the consenting quarantined subjects who were of age 18 years and above, irrespective of their gender were enrolled in the study. For the assessment of psychiatric morbidity, participants were screened using Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) 6.0.0. Finally, the relevant psychiatric assessment tools like Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D),Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale were applied to assess the severity of the disorders. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship among various clinical variables.The level of significance was considered at p-value lt;0.05. Results: Majority 85 (41%) subjects belonged to the age group 31-40 years of age. Around 116 (77.3%) participants were male. Around 51 (24.6%) presented moderate depression and 25 (12%) presented with severe depression. Also 182 (87.9%) presented with moderate anxiety. The study showed a statistically significant association between depression/anxiety and substance abuse, insomnia, co-morbidities, suicidal ideation/attempts. Conclusion: The findings of the present study concluded that a significant proportion of the quarantined population suffered from psychological issues. So, the psychological impact of a mandatory quarantine should be weighed more thoughtful and in an evidence based manner.
ABSTRACT
Background: The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic in India has put health-care workers (HCWs) under intense pressure and has led to immense psychological stress due to factors including a high risk of infection, inadequate protection from contamination, overwork, cutting-off with families, and exhaustion. The unprecedented stressful conditions are causing mental health problems such as stress, anxiety, depression, disturbed sleep, irritability, fear, and panic. The present study was carried out to investigate the mental health problems among HCWs working in close proximity with COVID-19 patients in quarantine centers and to explore the relevant influencing factors for the development of psychological interventions for them. Subject and Methods: HCWs working in COVID-19 quarantine centers in Ajmer were interviewed for exploring mental health problems in a cross-sectional study carried out at JLN Medical College, Ajmer, India. Depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress among HCWs were assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Relevant data were analyzed, and comparisons between different groups were performed using the two independent sample t-tests. All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software version 22.0 for Windows. Results: 53.57% (n = 30) of participants were suffering from depressive symptoms, 64.28% (n = 36) were suffering from anxiety symptoms, and 78.6% (n = 47) were suffering from stress. HCWs living in joint families were more affected by depression (P = 0.02). Both anxiety and stress were more commonly reported by HCWs of age <30, females, nurses and those living in joint families, but difference was statistically insignificant. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that a considerable number of HCWs were suffering from mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and stress. It is important to have periodic mental health assessment of HCWs dealing with COVID-19 patients.