Assessment of depression, anxiety and stress in COVID-19 infected individuals and their families

Abstract

BackgroundPandemics have been associated with widespread psychological distress in the normal population due to quarantine and lockdown, however there are only few studies on psychiatric symptoms in COVID infected patients and their families. This study was planned to assess the depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms in individuals and their families infected with COVID19, during current pandemic. MethodsA cross-sectional, observational study was conducted on hospitalised, COVID infected patients and their immediate family members. Ninety-three, COVID patients and fifty-four family members were studied through Google forms which contained socio-demographic proforma and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS21). Collected data was tabulated to assess depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in the given population and study their relation with various sociodemographic variables. ResultsAlmost one-third of the sample showed increased score on depression and anxiety subscales and one-fifth on stress subscales. 30–45% of the family members studied had higher score on either of the subset. There was also a high correlation between the scores of depression, anxiety and stress subset in the study sample. ConclusionThis study, reflects high magnitude of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in these patients and their families which alert us to the need for definitive interventions in these affected individuals.