Psychological responses of the Philippine Physician Licensure Exam takers to the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Objective@#This study aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and the level of perceived stress of the Physician Licensure Exam (PLE) takers during the COVID-19 pandemic.@*Method@#We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive survey among the Physician Licensure Exam takers using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS).@*Results@#Seven hundred thirty-two (732) Physician Licensure Exam takers participated in the survey, 423 (57.8%) were November takers and 309 (42.2%) were March takers who will be completing the exam on September 2020. The prevalence rates of major depression and generalized anxiety disorder among the PLE takers were 44.1% and 50.3%, respectively. November takers have a higher rate of depression (60.1%) and anxiety (52.7%) compared to the March takers (54.4% and 46.6%, respectively). The majority of the takers have moderate levels of depression (26.6%), anxiety (37.8%), and perceived stress (70.2%). There was a significant difference in the prevalence of major depression between the March and November takers (p-value <0.00001) but not with generalized anxiety disorder (p-value 0.05155). There was also no significant difference in the severity of depression (p value=0.527878), anxiety (p-value=0.883558), and levels of perceived stress (p- value=0.2476) between the March and November takers.@*Conclusions@#There was a high prevalence of major depression and generalized anxiety disorder among the PLE takers during the COVID19 pandemic. Majority of the PLE takers experienced moderate levels of depression, anxiety, and perceived stress.