The prevalence, causes, and management strategies for stress among health-care professionals of Delhi-National Capital Region

Abstract

Background: Stress at workplace has an adverse impact not only on the employees in terms of health, well being, and job dissatisfaction, but also affects the organization in terms of quality of output, absenteeism, and attrition which ultimately has detrimental financial implications. Health care professionals comprise of an important group that are majorly affected by workplace stress because of the nature of their work environment. Methods: The current study was undertaken to ascertain the presence of self perceived stress among healthcare workers in multispecialty hospitals of the National Capital Region of Delhi and to find the expected remedial measures that could be implemented to mitigate stress. In a questionnaire based study, a self administered questionnaire was used to assess stress and related factors using convenience-sampling technique. The response data were extracted and analyzed using Microsoft Excel, which was used for data analysis, tabulation, and graphical presentation. Results: Total 110 responses were received. Three quarter of the respondents identified significant stress in their life, with the highest stress reported by nursing staff at 98%, doctors at 67%, and administrative staff at 56%. The study shows a significant association of self reported stress with age of the respondents (P < 0.001). Respondents among age group of 15–25 years reported the highest prevalence of stress (P < 0.001). Women reported a higher level of stress than men, (P < 0.001), and nurses reported the highest level of stress followed by doctors and then administrative staff. Different methods to relieve stress were also discussed and it was found that two thirds (67%) of our study respondents would like to meditate at work. Conclusion: Stress is common among all categories of healthcare workers.Meditation can be a safe, effective, and feasible modality which can be offered at the workplace to safeguard the mental health of the health care workers and reduce their levels of stress.