Assessment of Level of Perceived Stress and Sources of Stress Among Dental Professionals Before and During the COVID -19 Outbreak.

Abstract

ABSTRACTContext:The recent spread of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in a number of mental health issues among healthcare workers and dentists are no exception to this due to their nature of work. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the level of perceived stress (PS) among Chhattisgarh dentists and identify the sources of stress before and during the COVID-19 crisis.Materials and Methods:An online questionnaire-based survey was done to assess the level of PS using perceived stress scale (PSS) and sources of stress among dentists of Chhattisgarh state of India before the onset of COVID-19 in the state and immediately after the nationwide lockdown was announced owing to COVID-19 outbreak. Based on the type of work, the dental practitioners were categorized into three groups––dental practitioners (group A), dental academicians (group B), and dentists who are practitioners as well as academicians (group C). Frequency, percentages, and mean values were calculated and compared among different participant characteristics using Student’s t test, paired t test, and one-way ANOVA.Results:During phase I, mean PSS for dentists was 18.61 ± 6.87 which increased to 20.72 ± 1.95 in phase II. Group C dentists recorded higher mean PSS during phase I, while group A dentists reported higher mean PSS during phase II. No family time due to long working hours (90%) was the major stressor among the three groups of dentists during phase I and concern about getting infected (83.3%) was identified as the most frequent stressor during phase II followed by stress over financial implications.Conclusion:Chhattisgarh dentists are reeling under psychological stress, which could be highly deteriorating to their mental health. Hence, concerned authorities should come forward and support the dentists by providing adequate guidelines, policies, and monetary support to them.