Depression, anxiety, stress and resilience among undergraduate health sciences students of a rural tertiary healthcare centre in Maharashtra during the Covid-19 lockdown: A cross-sectional, online survey.

Background The Covid-19 pandemic caused a rapidly evolving and confused situation. Health sciences students (HSSs) are not immune to depression, anxiety and stress during such a pandemic. We aimed to assess the relation between depression, anxiety, stress and resilience among undergraduate HSSs during the Covid-19 lockdown. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional, online survey at a rural tertiary healthcare centre in Maharashtra. Data were recorded from study participants on sociodemographic details using the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Data were analysed using SPSS software version 15.0. Results A total of 381 students participated in the online survey. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were 7.6%, 6.3% and 1.0%, respectively. There was a positive correlation between all three sub-scales of DASS-21. On BRS, 5 (1.3%) participants had high resilience, 216 (56.7%) had normal resilience and 160 (42.0%) had low resilience. Those respondents who had high resilience had lower rates of depression, anxiety and stress on DASS-21 sub-scales. Conclusion A proportion of HSSs had anxiety, depression and stress during the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown. Respondents with high resilience had less frequent depression, anxiety and stress. In the long run, strengthening resilience of HSSs may be useful.

Mental health problems faced by healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic-A review.

INTRODUCTION: The spread of novel corona virus (COVID-19) across the globe and the associated morbidity and mortality challenged the nations by several means. One such underrecognized and unaddressed area is the mental health issues medical staff develop during the pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This review aimed to review the literature about mental health problems faced by health care workers (HCW) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Literature search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Embase. All types of articles published in the last 4 months (January 2020-April 2020) which were relevant to the subject of the review were searched. A total of 23 articles were selected by initial screening and 6 articles were included in the final review. RESULTS: Review of all the 6 articles showed that current research focused on assessing several aspects of mental health affected in HCW due to COVID-19. Several sociodemographic variables like gender, profession, age, place of work, department of work and psychological variables like poor social support, self-efficacy were associated with increased stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia in HCW. There is increasing evidence that suggests that COVID-19 can be an independent risk factor for stress in HCW. CONCLUSION: Regular screening of medical personnel involved in treating, diagnosing patients with COVID-19 should be done for evaluating stress, depression and anxiety by using multidisciplinary Psychiatry teams.