Col Kirpal Singh Award

Abstract

Background:Psychiatric disorders are one of the increasing causes of disability and work-related problems. As per the available data, 10% of the total working Indian population have major psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, psychosis, and substance use disorders.Aims:To study the relationship between Psychiatric disorders and Absenteeism in State Government Employees in a Tertiary Healthcare center.Methodology:The retrospective data of the last two years of the candidates referred for psychiatric evaluation to the Department because of absence at work was collected from the Hospital records and were analyzed for the number, gender, education, presence of mental illness, treatment is taken, substance use and outcome of the referral.Statistics:Categorical variables were analyzed with the Chi-squared tests. Significance levels for all analyses were set at P <0.05. Mean ranks were tested using the Kruskal Wallis test.Results:Significant difference was found between Prevalence of Psychiatric disorders, length (p=0.045), and frequent periods of absenteeism (p=0.03).Conclusions:Our study examined the psychiatric diagnostic categories, past absenteeism at work, the outcome of the referral, and associations if any which might help to provide better psychiatric services for the referrals of government employees in the future.