Depressive disorders among physician parents in times of COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Studies have shown that physicians manifest a clear duty to work. For parents, reconciling work with parenthood is not easy and can even lead to depression. Objective(s) To determine the prevalence and the factors for depression in Tunisian physician parents. Method(s) This was a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study of 93 Tunisian physician parents, conducted on google drive in March 2021, including a questionnaire containing the parents' personal and professional data and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Result(s) In our study, the sex ratio (M/F) was 0.05. The average age was 34.43 years old. Almost three-quarters of doctors (71.3%) were providing on duty services in the hospital while 69% were providing at least one call per month in COVID units. The average BDI score was 6.16. According to the BDI score, 60.9% of participants had depression. The BDI score was correlated with several types of dissatisfaction dissatisfaction with the relationship with his child (p = 0.002), time devoted to the partner (0.001), time devoted to the child (p = 0.004), child's educational style (p <0.001), time spent on leisure or personal activities (p <0.001), child's academic performance (p = 0.001) and child's behavior (p <0.001). Furthermore, the BDI score was associated with postponing having a child for career reasons (p = 0.038) and thinking that his career is slowed down by parenthood (p <0.001). Conclusion(s) Depression's rate among physician parents appears to be significant. It's associated with a feeling of guilt and dissatisfaction, hence the necessity of an early detection and management.