Prevalence of depression among health workers in Enugu, South East Nigeria

Depression and its associated factors among health care workers in Saint Paul's hospital millennium medical college, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND

Depression is a common mental disorder that affects 3.8% of the general population and 24% of healthcare workers globally. Healthcare professionals are more susceptible to depression because they face higher amounts of professional stress in their jobs and academic lives. However, there is limited knowledge regarding health professionals' level of depression in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and associated factors among health professionals, at Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

METHODS

We conducted an institution-based cross-sectional study among 439 randomly selected healthcare workers using interviewer-administered patient health questionnaire-9 from April to May 2023. Ordinal logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of depression. Reported p-values < 0.05 or a 95% Confidence Interval of Odds Ratio excluding one was considered statistically significant.

RESULT

The overall prevalence of depression among healthcare workers was 21.9% (95%CI: 18%, 27.76%). There were reports of mild (35%), moderate (13%) and severe (9%) depression, respectively. Marital status of being single (AOR = 7.78, 95%CI: 1.123, 49.01), history of childhood abuse (AOR = 2.57, 95%CI:1.49, 4.42), history of suicidal attempt (AOR = 2.66, 95%CI:1.25,5.67), having a history of stressful life event (AOR = 1.527, 95%CI: 1.02,2.3), back pain over the past 30 days (AOR = 2, 95%CI: 1.30,3.11), working for more than 8 hours (AOR = 3.03, 95%CI: 1.12,8.24), and having experience of 5-10 year (AOR = 4, 95%CI: 1.05,15.27) and 10-15 years (AOR = 4.24, 95%CI: 1.08,16.58) and poor social support (AOR = 2.09, 95%CI: 1.09,3.99) were statistically associated with increased level of depression.

CONCLUSION

Healthcare professionals' higher rate of depression was due to the higher workload, childhood abuse, history of stressful life, back pain, and poor social support. Thus, the hospital should give special attention to early screening and treatment for depression for those healthcare workers who have a high workload, childhood abuse, back pain, a history of stressful life and poor social support. Similarly, the Ministry of Health should also design strategies to screen, detect and treat depression among healthcare workers.

Factors associated with depression and determining dimensions of job satisfaction among physicians in Bangladesh

Background

Depression in physicians emerges early in their academic and professional careers. Lengthy and irregular duty time, high levels of obligation, job dissatisfaction, workstation culture, organizational rules, and so on significantly increased the psychological pressure on physicians.

Objectives

The study's aim was to measure the level of depression, association, and influence of socio-demographic characteristics and job satisfaction on depression among physicians in Bangladesh, as well as to explore the factor structure of job satisfaction measure and examine its internal reliability.

Methods

Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire in a cross-sectional survey of 301 physicians. The factors related to depression were investigated using a multivariable logistic regression model, and factor analysis was done to identify the important factors associated with job satisfaction.

Results

Male respondents made up 49.5 percent of the sample overall, while female respondents made up 50.5 percent. 24.58% of the physicians had mild depression, whereas 13.29%, 7.31%, and 0.66% of the participants had moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression, respectively. In multivariable analysis, sex (male vs. female, AOR: 2.16, 95% CI:1.28–3.62), monthly income <15000 BDT vs. >40000 BDT, (AOR: 0.35, 95% CI: 0.14–0.89), and income <15000 BDT vs. 15,000–24,999 BDT (AOR: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.15–0.89) were the essential factors associated with depression. Furthermore, with each unit increase in the job satisfaction score was related to a 71% decrease in the odds of physicians having depression.

Conclusion

The findings of this study indicate that providing appropriate organizational support, proper work assignments, and an adequate opportunity to develop their professional skills and career irrespective of sex may increase overall job satisfaction. Ultimately, this will serve to improve patient care as well as the whole health system's output.

Depression among healthcare workers in North West Armed Forces hospital-Tabuk, Saudi Arabia: Prevalence and associated factors

BACKGROUND

Depression among healthcare workers results in adverse effects which might include impairment of work performance, reduced productivity and increase in the employee turnover rate. Despite of that, few published studies have been cited concerning depression among hospital healthcare workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study aims to estimate the prevalence and identify the determinants of depression among health care workers working at North West Armed Forces hospital in Tabuk city, KSA.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study design that was adopted to include a representative sample of physicians and nurses working at North West Armed Forces hospital throughout the study period, provided that they worked at this hospital for at least 6 months. A self-administered questionnaire was applied including three parts; the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, factors that could be associated with depression and the patient health-9 questionnaire to diagnose depression.

RESULTS

The study included 255 healthcare workers. Females represent 58.8 % of the participants. Their age ranged between 22 and 50 years (30.6 ± 5.3 years). About two-thirds of them were nurses (64.3 %) and the remaining 35.7 % were physicians; mainly registrars (22.8 %). The prevalence of depression was 43.9 %. being severe among 0.8 % of them. Results of multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that HCWs who lost beloved person in the last 6 months were at 3.67 higher risk for developing depression compared to those who didn't report such history (adjusted odds ratio = 3.67; 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.84-7.30, p < 0.001). Compared to HCWs of less than 5 years of experience, those with higher experience (5-10 and > 10 years) were at lower significant risk to develop depression (AOR = 0.16; 95 % CI = 0.07-0.037, p < 0.001 and AOR = 0.05; 95 % CI = 0.01-0.029, p = 0.001), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Depression is a relatively common health problem affecting healthcare workers in North West Armed forces hospital, Tabuk. However, in majority of cares, the depression was mild.

Workplace violence towards emergency nurses: A cross-sectional multicenter study

BACKGROUND

Workplace violence (WPV) against nurses continues to be a challenge within healthcare systems worldwide. Quantifying the burden of WPV in emergency departments will inform the design of appropriate interventions. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, pattern and factors associated with WPV among emergency nurses working in Saudi Arabia.

METHODS

A multicenter descriptive online survey was conducted using a standardized self-administered questionnaire. Emergency nurses working in public hospitals in the country were invited to participate. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression.

RESULTS

The study recruited 849 emergency nurses, most (73.7%) had experienced WPV in the past two years; 47.4% experienced physical violence and 94.3% experienced non-physical violence. Most exposures to WPV occurred during the afternoon shifts (70.8%), and mainly perpetrated by family members or relatives of the patients (88.3%).

CONCLUSION

WPV encountered by emergency nurses in Saudi Arabia is alarmingly high, and underreported by the affected nurses. Increased workload, inadequate staffing levels, poorly enforced visitor policy, unmet expectations, and a lack of clarity in reporting were the most frequent causes of WPV. There is a need to reassess the current occupational safety measures in the emergency departments in the country.

Determinants of Depressive Symptoms Among Rural Health Workers: An Application of Socio-Ecological Framework

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to assess depressive symptoms among rural health workers (RHWs) through a multi-factorial socio-ecological framework (SEF) encompassing personal, interpersonal, organizational and community components.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A random sample of 394 RHWs in all rural areas of East Azerbaijan and fulfilling our other inclusion criteria were recruited. The participants underwent the Short-Form Beck's Depression Inventory and a validated researcher-constructed SEF questionnaire, including subscales on personal, interpersonal, organizational and community factors associated with depressive symptoms. Internal consistency and factor structure parameters of the SEF were also calculated.

RESULTS

A total of 394 RHWs were screened, of whom 170 (43.2%) had mild to major depressive symptoms. Only 6.8% were identified with major depressive symptoms. The SEF-based scale was found to have acceptable content validity (content validity index and ratio were 0.80 and 0.77, respectively) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.7). In the structural equation modeling, the fit indices showed our model to fit the data well (χ 2=14.06, df=14, χ 2/df=1.00, CFI=0.967, RMSEA=0.032). The highest direct contribution to depressive symptoms was found from the personal factors component (β=-2.32). Also, "work load and roles interference" (from organizational level, β=-0.76) and "family/colleague support" (from community level, β=-1.28) made significant direct contributions towards depressive symptoms. Besides the SEF components, female gender (β=1.69), family history of mental illness (β=-1.48), having chronic illnesses (β=-1.64) and being religious (β=3.43) were the strongest direct contributors to depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Depressive symptoms were common among RHWs, arising from all personal-, interpersonal-, organizational- and community-level factors. Our SEF had adequate internal consistency and factor structure parameters to be applied in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region countries, such as Iran, as a theoretical framework to plan for interventional efforts aiming at preventing depressive symptoms among RHWs. The burden of depressive symptoms should be reduced through multi-factorial interventions and rational perspectives.

Impacts of cognitive-behavioral intervention on anxiety and depression among social science education students: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Anxiety is a common disorder which refers to a significant and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations. This study investigated the impacts of cognitive-behavioral intervention on anxiety and depression among undergraduate students enrolled in social science education programs at public universities in the Southeast Nigeria.

METHODS

Participants were 55 undergraduate students enrolled in social science education programs at public universities in the Southeast Nigeria. The adequacy of the sample size used was determined using GPower software. Cognitive-behavioral treatment manuals on anxiety and depression were used to deliver the intervention. Data analyses were completed using repeated measures analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Results indicated a significant positive impact of cognitive-behavioral intervention on anxiety and depression among social science education students exposed to the cognitive-behavioral intervention when compared to the waitlisted group. Results also showed that there was a significant time × group interaction for anxiety and depression. Follow-up tests showed that significant reduction in anxiety and depression persisted after 3 months for the cognitive-behavioral intervention group in comparison to the waitlisted control group.

CONCLUSION

We concluded that cognitive-behavioral intervention was a successful intervention which decreased the symptoms of anxiety and depression in social science education students who participated in the study. Additional studies are recommended to further corroborate the influence of cognitive-behavioral intervention in the reduction of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the Nigerian undergraduate student population.

Workplace violence and risk for psychiatric morbidity among health workers in a tertiary health care setting in Nigeria: Prevalence and correlates

The objectives were to evaluate the workplace violence and risk for psychiatric morbidity, as well as their correlates, among health workers in a tertiary healthcare setting in Nigeria. A stratified random sampling technique was used to recruit the health workers. Each participant was administered a socio-demographic questionnaire, the ILO/ICN/WHO/PSI Workplace Violence Questionnaire and the 12- item General Health Questionnaire. A total of 380 health workers were recruited, with a mean age of 36.4 (±7.64) years. The prevalence rates of workplace violence and risk of psychiatric morbidity were 39.9% and 38.5%. Factors with independent associations with workplace violence included young age, female sex and worry about workplace violence while a widowed, separated or divorced marital status and being victim of workplace violence independently increased risk for developing psychiatric morbidity. This study therefore showed that workplace violence is common in the health care setting, and significant proportion of workers are at risk for developing psychiatric morbidity. These observations suggest need for the regular mental health screening of health workers, as well as the need for programmes aimed at preventing workplace violence in this setting.