Psychological problems among health care workers in a tertiary care centre during covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Background: Thousands of health care personnel are engaged in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Health care workers (HCWs) who are engaged in caring for COVID-19 positive cases may manifest features of psychological distress and even disorders. Objectives: To have an in-depth understanding of the mental health problems experienced by the HCWs engaged in delivering care to COVID-19 cases in a tertiary care centre;and also, their preoccupations, apprehensions and felt needs during that period. Methods: A qualitative study was undertaken among the health care workers of a tertiary care teaching centre in Northern Kerala. In-depth Interviews (IDIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were undertaken among the HCWs including doctors, nurses, nursing assistants and last-grade assistant workers involved in giving care to COVID-19 patients. IDIs and FGDs were conducted till redundancy of information. All IDIs and FGDs were recorded, transcribed and translated to English. The translated data was analysed by free-listing, pile-sorting. domain identification, coding and summarizing. Results: 12 IDIs and 3 FGDs were conducted involving different stakeholders like doctors (faculty members and Junior Residents), nurses, nursing assistants, last-grade assistants and administrators. Increase in psychological problems like anxiety and depression were described by the participants. Physical problems were reported in relation to use of PPE kit. Psychosocial problems like isolation of health care workers by neighbours and family members were also reported. Conclusions: Anxiety and depressive symptoms as well psychosocial problems are the common problems seen in HCWs engaged in COVID-19 duty.

Domestic violence and psychological problems in married women during COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown: A community-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Following the declaration of Coronavirus disease-2019 as a pandemic, a nation-wide lockdown was announced in India. This led to increase in psychological problems, especially in women. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of psychological problems and domestic violence (DV) in married women during the pandemic and lockdown in a panchayat in Southern India and to study the association of socio-demographic and clinical variables with psychological problems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in 209 married women of 18-55 years residing in a village panchayat of northern Kerala, India. Socio-demographic variables and clinical variables, like depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, perceived stress and DV, among others, were evaluated. The participants were interviewed by trained community health workers in the post-lockdown period. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was found to be 10.0 %, anxiety symptoms 7.2 % and perceived stress 66.0 %. Severe DV was reported by 6.2 %; but at least one form of DV was experienced by 25.8 % of the women. Significant positive correlation was observed for DV with depression and anxiety. DV was also found to be a significant predictor of depression (adjusted OR [aOR] = 4.26, P = 0.006) and anxiety (aOR=4.34, P=0.02). Being a homemaker (aOR=4.51, P = 0.03) and having past history of mental illness (aOR=5.39, P = 0.03) were also found to increase the risk for depression significantly. CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of psychological problems in married women during the pandemic and lockdown. DV was found to be a significant predictor of depression and anxiety in this population.