Factors Responsible for Work Stress among Health Care Providers and Frequency of Antidepressant Medicine Use

Objective: To assess the contributing factors of occupational stress and frequency of antidepressant medicine use among healthcare providers working at Isra University Hospital.

Study Setting: Isra University Hospital, Hyderabad Sind Pakistan.

Study Design: Cross-sectional.

Materials and Methods: All the health care providers of Isra University Hospital, Hyderabad of either gender formed the sample of the study. A structured questionnaire in English language was designed to gather data on factors contributing to occupational stress. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 20.

Results: The impact of work stress on work performance was explored in 100 study participants. The results indicated that 87% of study sample affirmed that stress lead to poor performance. Out of all participants, 79% were female and 21% were males. The analysis of stress elevating factors showed that 56% study participants had stress due to low salary, 17% felt stress due to seniors ‘negative attitude’ and 15% due to low job satisfaction. Result showed that 27.0% subjects reduce stress by sharing with their friends, 25% by prayers, 21% use the music during stress, 19.0% share with family and 8% using the antidepressant medicine during stress.

Conclusion: It was concluded that low job satisfaction, lesser pay and seniors’ attitude are common contributing stress factors. Sharing with family and friends, music, prayers and use of the antidepressant medicine were the common methods of stress reduction.