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CC BY 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2024; 45(03): 242-248
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1764368
Original Article

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Psychological Well-Being of Health Care Professionals in India

Hiba Siddiqui 
1   Department of Surgical Oncology, Max Institute of Cancer Care, Max Super Speciality Hospital Saket, New Delhi, India
2   Doctoral Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India
,
Shubham Garg
3   Department of Surgical Oncology, Max Institute of Cancer Care, Max Super Speciality Hospital Vaishali, India
,
Pramod Kumar Julka
4   Department of Medical Oncology, Max Institute of Cancer Care, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, India
,
Aditi Chaturvedi
5   Department of Surgical Oncology, Max Institute of Cancer Care, Max Hospital Gurugram, India
,
Sharan Choudhri
6   Department of Surgical Oncology, Max Institute of Cancer Care, Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital, New Delhi, India
,
Ramandeep Singh Arora
7   Department of Medical Oncology, Max Institute of Cancer Care, Max Super Speciality Hospital Saket, New Delhi, India
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Funding None.
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Abstract

Introduction and Objective Health care professionals (HPs) have been at the forefront facing the pressures and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus have a higher psychological vulnerability. The incidence of psychological distress, which can negatively affect an HP's work efficiency and long-term well-being, has not been studied in depth in India.

Materials and Methods A multicentric study was conducted using the digital means of communication across Max Healthcare between June and August 2020. HPs in the department of oncology, including doctors, nurses, and other support staff, were invited to voluntarily participate in the self-administered online survey. A total of 87 HPs in oncology (41 doctors, 28 nurses, and 18 in other fronts) were assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Outcome of interest was psychological distress (defined as a GHQ-12 score >15).

Results The overall incidence of psychological distress among HPs in oncology during the COVID-19 pandemic was 17.20%. Significantly higher levels of psychological distress were observed among HPs with a history of psychiatric illness (p = 0.003), and among HPs with a work experience of less than 10 years (p = 0.017).

Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the psychological well-being of HPs in India. This study implicated the recognition of the psychological well-being of HPs in oncology as an unmet need during the COVID-19 pandemic, further recommending efforts toward increasing accessibility of mental health services for them.

Keywords

COVID-19 - GHQ-12 - health care professionals - India - psychological - well-being - oncology

Clinical Trial Registration

CTRI number: CTRI/2020/05/025220 (Registered on May 17, 2020); protocol code for Institutional Ethics Committee: RS/MSSH/DDF/SKT-2/IEC/S-ONCO/20–13; and date of approval: May 7, 2020.




Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
17. April 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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