ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged populations across the globe. The toll taken is unprecedented in the modern age. Aside from this obvious morbidity and mortality, there is an under-appreciated pandemic of mental illness that is sweeping across the world. Mental health issues in health care professionals have long since been identified to be a significant problem. Our experiences during previous similar epidemics have shown that such situations take a huge toll on the physical as well as mental health of personnel affected, either directly by infection or indirectly by the social and economic consequences of the pandemic. The health care worker may find him/herself in a very challenging situation, dealing simultaneously with multiple sources of stress in an ever-changing environment. These manifest in the form of serious mental issues such as depression, anxiety, stress, sleep disturbances, and posttraumatic stress disorder, to name a few. These can have a longlasting impact on the psychological makeup of the victims. We conducted this survey-based study to assess the prevalence of depression and anxiety among a wide range of personnel involved in health care, in different settings, working in the front line and nonfront line scenarios. Aims and objectives: To assess the prevalence of developing anxiety and depression among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and to compare the prevalence thereof based on various factors such as occupation, pre-existing health issues, level of work, social background, working directly with infected patients. Materials and methods: Survey-based, prospective, observational cohort study including data collection over 1 month. The online survey was circulated as a Google Form and made available to all healthcare workers pan India. The study included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale along with other personal information, gathered anonymously. The paired t-test and Mann- Whitney U-test were used to determine the statistical significance. Results: The mean age of the population was 39.9 years, with equal distribution among the sexes. 70% of subjects were married and 76% lived with their families. The commonest co-morbidities were hypertension (n = 66), obesity (n = 61), diabetes (n = 37). 60.4% had PG qualifications, 69.3% were treating physicians, and 49.4% were consultants. 90.3% worked in urban settings, 65.5% worked at the tertiary level. 37.4% worked directly with COVID-19 patients. 24.4% of respondents worked in ICU, 14.7% in OPD, 12% in ward settings. Gross prevalence of depression was 43% (mild: 22.6%, moderate 11.2%, moderate-severe 5.1%, severe: 3.9%). Prevalence of anxiety was 47% (mild 26%, moderate 13%, severe 7%). Depression was commoner among men (p = 0.04), those in a relationship (p = 0.00), those with children (p = 0.00) in older age groups, with higher positions and educational qualifications, and those with co-morbidities (p = 0.0). It was less prevalent in front-line workers, including physicians (p = 0.00). Among the front-line workers, depression and anxiety were more prevalent among physicians (p = 0.01). Depression was commoner in OPD and ED settings (p = 0.00), and less for people getting quarantine period (p = 0.00). Conclusion: Our survey shows a higher than average prevalence of anxiety and depression among health care workers in India as compared to non-pandemic periods. We have also identified groups that are at higher risk for mental health issues .
ABSTRACT
Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Human- Computer Interaction (HCI) have long studied how technology can support material and relational aspects of care work, typically in clinical healthcare settings. More recently, we see increasing recognition of care work such as informal healthcare provision, child and elderly care, organizing and advocacy, domestic work, and service work. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored long-present tensions between the deep necessity and simultaneous devaluation of our care infrastructures. This highlights the need to attend to the broader social, political, and economic systems that shape care work and the emerging technologies being used in care work. This leads us to ask several critical questions: What counts as care work and why? How is care work (de)valued, (un)supported, or coerced under capitalism and to what end? What narratives drive the push for technology in care work and whom does it benefit? How does care work resist or build resilience against and within oppressive systems? And how can we as researchers advocate for and with care and caregivers? In this one-day workshop, we will bring together researchers from academia, industry, and community-based organizations to reflect on these questions and extend conversations on the future of technology for care work. © 2021 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has been uniquely challenging for the Asian diaspora. The virus has directly devastated Asian communities around the world, most notably across India. Its indirect effects have also been crushing: violent hate crimes against elders, the dissolution of once-thriving businesses, and the trauma of pandemic-enforced disconnect from transnational family networks have all weighed heavily on Asian people. Publicly grappling with these difficulties, through hashtags and GoFundMes across social media, has raised awareness of the issues that Asian people have dealt with long before COVID. But doing so amidst isolation has illuminated a need for space to build relationships, confront intra- and inter-community biases, and envision a more hopeful future. This workshop looks to create that space. By convening social computing researchers with ties to Asian diaspora identities, we aim to foster discussion of how social platforms enable identity formation and online activism unique to the Asian diasporic experience. We will consider what it means to be an Asian diaspora researcher, challenge CSCW's notion of what it means to be Asian, and explore how Asianness can work in alliance with other marginalized identities to ultimately concretize a research agenda for CSCW to more meaningfully engage with Asian diaspora experiences. © 2021 ACM.