PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AND MENTAL WELL-BEING AMONG DOCTORS WORKING IN MAJOR TEACHING HOSPITALS OF PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:   To find out the relationship between psychological distress and mental well-being among doctors working in teaching hospitals of Peshawar, Pakistan; and explore the gender related differences on psychological distress and mental well-being among these doctors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 270 doctors working in Khyber Teaching Hospital, (KTH), Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) Peshawar, Pakistan. Data was collected through convenient sampling technique. Two reliable and valid questionnaires, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale were used t measure psychological distress and mental well-being among doctors. Data analysis was done through SPSS-21v. RESULTS: Out of 270 doctors, 154 (53.1%) were male and 116 (40.0%) were female doctors. Majority of doctors  (n=134; 46.2%) were from KTH, followed by HMC (n=70; 24.1%) and LRH (n=66; 22.8%). Overall descriptives indicates that data was normally distributed and alpha values of both scales were (K-10; α= 0.78 and MWB; α=0.86). Both psychological distress and mental well-being were negatively correlated with each other (-0.62** p <0.01). Findings Also showed that female doctors had more Psychological distress than male doctors (t=4.09). CONCLUSION: Psychological distress and mental well-being among doctors working in major teaching hospitals of Peshawar Pakistan were negatively correlated with each other. Female doctors reported higher psychological distress as compared to male doctors.