A Study on Prevalence of Depression Among Health Care Workers of a Tertiary Care Center in Northern India During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a diverse set of problems related to mental health, employment, economic wellbeing, access to education, inflation, transportation, and vaccination in addition to physical health consequences. Health care workers (HCWs), being in forefront of providing care to COVID-19 patients, are a special vulnerable population suffering from COVID-19-related mental health problems. Method: A cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of depression among HCWs working in different specialties of a tertiary care health center of Northern India was done. A self-designed performa containing sociodemographic details along with the “Zung self-rating depression scale” was used to obtain the prevalence of depression among HCWs. Result: Among 192 participants, 14.58% had signs of depression, out of which 11.96% had mild, 1.56% had moderate, and 1.04% had signs of severe depression. Conclusion: The depression among HCWs has increased after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.