PSYCHOLOGICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH BURDEN ON HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS IN A CANCER CENTRE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC OUTBREAK IN INDIA

Background: The outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is severely affecting the public health and posing a challenge to health care providers, especially working as front-line medical staff. This study was aimed to understand the psychological impact and mental burden of the present outbreak on Indian health care providers who are working at cancer care centre. Subjects and methods: A self-reporting online questionnaire was given to the multidisciplinary staff (n=344) and their mental health was assessed using various scales via GAD-7 scale for anxiety, PHQ-9 scale for depression, ISI for insomnia, K-10 for distress, and STAI for stress along with five self-made Pandemic specific questions. Results: Response rate was 91% (n=344) among 190 (55%) were male and 154 (45%) were female. The frontline and secondline workers were 178 (52%) and 166 (48%), respectively. Symptoms of anxiety, depression, insomnia and distress was observed in 62 (18%), 75 (22%), 42 (12%), and 60 (17%) of the participants, respectively. They were predominantly influenced by variables such as gender (female), education (≥graduation), co-morbidities, and level of work (frontline). Followed by other less dominant variables such as contact with patients (frequent), and working in hospital (<3 years), respectively. Conclusion: A mild to moderate level of psychological burden was observed in the health care providers. Overall, there is a need to address the mental health issues by providing, timely training, counselling, rotation in shifts, lowering workload and intensify the awareness programmes of the staff during this COVID-19 pandemic for better outcomes and promoting resilience in the staff