Depression, anxiety, and stress among resident doctors of a teaching hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Higher studies in general and postgraduate medical studies in particular carry a lot of stress. Some of it must be accepted, but a lot of it is modifiable by pertinent personal, institutional and policy changes. Hence, as a basic prerequisite, we have tried to assess the level of depression, anxiety, and stress suffered by the resident doctors of a teaching hospital in urban Gujarat. We also tried to find the various correlates. Aims and Objectives: (1) To find the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in resident doctors of a tertiary care teaching hospital. (2) To study demographic characteristics among residents and its correlates with depression, anxiety, and stress. (3) To study the correlation of postgraduate training-related factors and personal factors with depression, anxiety, and stress. Materials and Methods: After taking informed consent and explaining the procedure, self-report forms were distributed to all 520 resident doctors of our institute. It constituted of a sociodemographic datasheet and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS)-42, having 14 questions each of depression, anxiety, and stress. The data from the returned completely filled 462 forms were entered in Microsoft Excel version 2007 and analyzed using Epi Info and Chi-square test. Results: Higher than average prevalence of depression (27.71%), anxiety (36.58%), and stress (24.24%) was found among the resident doctors. Furthermore, variables such as being junior, long duty hours, no job satisfaction, residents of clinical branches, not having any hobbies, and staying at hostel were significantly associated with higher scores on DASS. Conclusion: Postgraduate medical studies engender a lot of stress which can result in personal tragedies, poorer patient care, and overall loss to the society. If doable strategic changes are brought about, the scenario can be improved.