Prevalence and associated factors of stress, anxiety and depression among emergency medical officers in Malaysian hospitals

doi:10.5847/wjem.j.1920-8642.2018.03.003

Abstract

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Demanding profession has been associated with poor psychological health due to multiple factors such as overworking hours and night shifts. This study is to determine prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety and stress among medical officers working at emergency department in Malaysian hospitals.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 140 emergency department medical officers working at general hospitals from seven Malaysia regions. They were randomly selected and their depression, anxiety and stress level were measured by the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale.
RESULTS: The highest prevalence was anxiety (28.6%) followed by depression (10.7%) and stress (7.9%). Depression, anxiety and stress between seven hospitals were not significantly different (P>0.05). Male medical officers significantly experienced more anxiety symptoms than female medical officers (P=0.0022), however depression and stress symptoms between male and female medical officers were not significantly different (P>0.05). Depression, anxiety and stress were not associated with age, working experience, ethnicity, marital status, number of shifts and type of system adopted in different hospitals (P>0.05).
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of anxiety was high, whereas for depression and stress were considerably low. Gender was the only factor significantly associated with anxiety. Other factors were not associated with depression, anxiety and stress. Future research should aim to gain better understanding on unique factors that affect female and male medical officers’ anxiety level in emergency setting, thus guide authorities to chart strategic plans to remedy this condition.

Key words: Medical officers, Emergency department, Depression, Anxiety, Stress

Siti Nasrina Yahaya, Shaik Farid Abdull Wahab, Muhammad Saiful Bahribin Yusoff, Mohd Azhar Mohd Yasin, Mohammed Alwi Abdul Rahman. Prevalence and associated factors of stress, anxiety and depression among emergency medical officers in Malaysian hospitals[J]. World Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2018, 9(3): 178-186.

Figures/Tables 4

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Characteristics	n (%)
States
Terengganu	16 (11.4)
Sabah	24 (17.1)
Wilayah Persekutuan	20 (14.3)
Perak	20 (14.3)
Johor	20 (14.3)
Sarawak	20 (14.3)
Kedah	21 (15.0)
Age (years)
20-29	62 (44.3)
30-39	73 (52.2)
≥40	5 (3.5)
Sex
Male	56 (40.0)
Female	84 (60.0)
Marital status
Single	68 (48.9)
Married	71 (51.1)
Others	1 (*)
Ethnics
Malay	79 (56.4)
Chinese	32 (22.9)
Indian	22 (15.7)
Others	7 (5.0)
Experience of working (months)
6-12	40 (28.6)
13-36	56 (39.9)
≥37	44 (31.3)
Number of shifts (per month)
Night shifts (n=86)	6.3 (3.2)
Total of shifts (n=91)	17.9 (8.3)

Associated factors	Outcome, n (%)		χ²(df)	P value
Associated factors	Anxiety	Normal	χ²(df)	P value
Sex			5.250 (1.00)	0.022^a
Male	22 (39.3)	34 (60.7)
Female	18 (21.4)	66 (78.6)
Status			0.286 (1.00)	0.593^a
Single	18 (26.5)	50 (73.5)
Married	22 (30.6)	50 (69.4)
Age (years)				0.054^b
20-29	13 (32.5)	49 (49.0)
30-39	27 (67.5)	46 (46.0)	-
≥40	0 (0.0)	5 (5.0)
Duration			2.494 (2.00)	0.287^a
6-12	8 (19.5)	33 (80.5)
13-36	19 (33.9)	37 (66.1)
≥37	13 (30.2)	30 (69.8)
Ethnic group			0.291 (1.00)	0.590^a
Malay	24 (30.4)	55 (69.6)
Non Malay	16 (26.2)	45 (73.8)
System used			2.300 (1.00)	0.130^a
Manual	33 (82.5)	70 (70.0)
Fully computerized	7 (17.5)	30 (30.0)
Total of shifts Night shifts	25 (29.1)	61 (70.9)	-	0.755^b
Total of shifts Night shifts	25 (27.5)	66 (72.5)	-	0.374^b

Associated factors	Outcome, n (%)		χ²(df)	P value
Associated factors	Depressed	Normal	χ²(df)	P value
Sex			1.244 (1.00)	0.265^a
Male	8 (14.3)	48 (85.7)
Female	7 (8.3)	77 (91.7)
Status			0.024 (1.00)	0.876^a
Single	7 (10.3)	61 (89.7)
Married	8 (11.1)	64 (88.9)
Age (years)
20-29	4 (26.7)	58 (46.4)	-	0.274^b
30-39	11 (73.3)	62 (49.6)
≥40	0 (0.0)	5 (4.0)
Working experience (months)
6-12	2 (4.9)	39 (95.1)	2.118 (2.00)	0.347^a
13-36	7 (12.5)	49 (87.5)
≥37	6 (14.0)	37 (86.0)
Ethnic group			0.087 (1.00)	0.768^a
Malay	9 (11.4)	70 (88.6)
Non Malay	6 (9.8)	55 (90.2)
System used			0.00 (1.00)	0.982^a
Manual	11 (73.3)	92 (73.6)
Fully computerized	4 (26.7)	33 (26.4)
Total of shifts Night shifts	8 (9.30)	78 (90.7)	-	0.180^b
Total of shifts Night shifts	8 (8.79)	83 (91.2)	-	0.151^b

Associated factors	Outcome, n (%)		χ²(df)	P value
Associated factors	Stress	Normal	χ²(df)	P value
Sex			-	0.755^b
Male	5 (8.9)	51 (91.1)
Female	6 (7.1)	78 (92.9)
Status			0.046 (1.00)	0.829^a
Single	5 (7.4)	63 (92.6)
Married	6 (8.3)	66 (91.7)
Age (years)			-	0.146^b
20-29	2 (18.2)	60 (46.5)
30-39	9 (81.8)	64 (49.8)
≥40	0 (0.0)	5 (3.9)
Duration			0.180 (2.00)	0.914^a
6-12	3 (7.3)	38 (92.7)
13-36	4 (7.1)	52 (92.9)
≥37	4 (9.3)	39 (90.7)
Ethnic group			-	0.348^b
Malay	8 (10.1)	71 (89.9)
Non Malay	3 (4.9)	58 (95.1)
System used			0.04 (1.00)	0.947^a
Manual	8 (72.7)	95 (73.6)
Fully computerized	3 (27.3)	34 (26.4)
Total of shifts Night shifts	5 (5.81)	81 (94.2)	-	0.944^b
Total of shifts Night shifts	5 (5.49)	86 (94.5)	-	0.751^b