Psychosocial perception of health-care workers in a COVID-19-designated hospital in eastern India

COVID-19 pandemic has changed the life of people in many facets, economic, social, and psychological. Frontline health-care workers (HCWs) fighting against this pandemic faced some psychological as well as social issues which are of major concern. The objective of the study is to evaluate the magnitude of mental health problems, namely depression, anxiety, and stress among frontline HCWs as well as their perception on ongoing events and surroundings.

It was a prospective, observational study on n = 85 HCWs over a 4-month period. Study participants were sampled purposively in accordance with inclusion and exclusion criteria; data were collected by online survey method. A semi-structured scale was used: Part A of which assessed the demography and perception of HCWs on surrounding along with ongoing social events and Part B consisted of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 that was used to assess mental health issues. All the associations were tested in percentages and proportions. Statistics was calculated by using SPSS 24th version.

Majority of the participants were female doctors and belonged to 21–30 years' age group. Most of them were marginally worried of contacting infection (73%) but were substantially apprehensive of transmitting infection to their family (56.5%) and hoped positive outcome ultimately in the form of recovery from infection. Majority (96.4%) gathered information from authentic sources and were confident of adequacy of their knowledge. Majority (88.3%) were satisfied about their occupational safety and responded on scientific solution of pandemic. However, we got a mixed result about their professional appreciation. Depression symptom score was higher than anxiety and stress symptom score in our participants.

Doctors and nurses both were suffering from mental health issues, and provision of adequate information and occupational safety may lessen these burdens.