Assessing psychological well-being among medical officers during COVID-19 pandemic: An approach toward sustainable development

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant loss of human life and affected healthcare infrastructure globally. The present study aimed to study the presence of anxiety and stress symptoms among medical officers in the Indian army and the impact of anxiety and stress on psychological well-being during COVID. The data was collected from February 2021 to April 2021 using a standardized questionnaire to measure anxiety, stress, and psychological well-being. Data collected from 319 respondents were analyzed using SPSS by Chi-square tool, bivariate correlation, H-test, and U-test. The presence of anxiety and stressed symptoms were 11.9% and 37.3% among medical officers in the Indian army. Medical officers of the AMC unit (doctors) were more impacted by anxiety compared with MNS and ADC medical officers. The risk factors having significant association with stress symptoms were age (maximum in 31-40 and 51-60 years), rank (initial service ranks and senior ranks both), and unit (AMC and MNS are more prone to stress symptoms as compared to ADC unit). Anxiety (-0.543) at p<0.01 has more negative impact on psychological well-being among medical officers of armed forces as compared to stress at work (-0.243) at P<0.01. In this present study, results showed the high presence of anxiety and stress symptoms among medical officers during COVID-19. Results also demonstrated that there is a difference in anxiety level at different times of COVID. Differences in psychological well-being also exist and are impacted due to the presence of stress and anxiety. By prioritizing well-being, focus will be shifted to sustainable development of medical officers.