Anxiety, Depression, and Stress among Female Community Health Volunteers during COVID-19 Pandemic in Nepal

Abstract

Introduction Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) are an integral part of various community-based health programs visiting households and communities to screen for diseases, risk factors and educate on basic health issues. A profound and wide range of psychological health issues (anxiety, stress, and depression) at the individual, community, and international levels has been reported during the COVID-19 outbreaks. Methods An analytical cross-sectional study design was used to assess the anxiety, depression, and stress level among rural and urban FCHVs during the COVID-19 in Province 1. A multistage random sampling technique was be used the select the sample. The totalsample size was 384. Semi-structured structured valid Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used for measuring the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress level of FCHVs. Descriptive analysis i.e. frequency, percentage, mean, median, and standard deviation was used to assess the level of anxiety, depression, and stress among adults. Inferential analysis i.e. logistic regression was used to find the association between dependent and selected demographic variables. Findings The study revealed that the prevalence of extremely severe levels of anxiety was 35.5 % of the Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) 23.4% of moderate level of stress and 21.6% of respondents were a severe level of depression respectively. There is significant association between level anxiety and ethnicity (p=0.040; OR=1.562; CI=1.021-2.390), occupation (p=0.013; OR=3.861; CI=1.325-11.249) and place of residence (p≤ 0.001; OR=1.959; CI=1.470-3.413). There is significant association between level stress and occupation (p=0.037; OR=3.363; CI=1.074-10.531) place of residence (p=0. 005; OR=1.817; CI=1.193-2.767). There is significant association between level depression and ethnicity, occupation (p≤0.001; OR=2.117; OR=1.391-3.222) and place of residence (p=0. 026; OR=3.371; CI=1.158-9.812). The study concluded that the female community Health Volunteers was mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe level of anxiety, stress and depression level so prompt psychiatric intervention to enhance the mental wellbeing of FCHVs.