Abstract
BACKGROUND
The mental well being of people at work is good for everyone and enhances personal and organizational resilience and success. Mental health problem is very common in the workplace and the leading cause of sickness absence. World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) new global health estimates on depression said while over 5 crore Indians suffered from depression, over 3 crore others suffered from anxiety disorders. Depression ranks among the top three work place problems for employee assistance professionals, following only family crisis and stress. Right now, one in six workers is experiencing stress, anxiety or depression. By 2020, depression will be the second leading cause of world disability, and by 2030 it is expected to be the largest contributor to disease burden.
Everyone who has ever held a job has, at some point, felt the pressure of work related stress .In short term; we may experience pressure to meet a deadline or to fulfill a challenging obligation. But when work stress becomes chronic, it can be overwhelming- and harmful to both physical and emotional health. We can’t always avoid the tensions that occur on the job and it is also not the solution to the problem. Yet we can take steps to manage work- related stress. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the level of Depression, Anxiety and Stress with a view of developing n informational booklet which would serve as a practical guide so as to improve the quality of occupational health practice.
Materials and Methods: An institution-based descriptive study was conducted among 150 teaching staffs of Assam down town University. Purposive sampling technique was used. The faculties were interviewed using a demographic performa and psychometric tool which is a short version of depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS) questionnaire was used to assess relevant depression, anxiety and stress .Data were analyzed using MS-Excel.
Results: A total of 150 faculties of Assam downtown university participated in the study. Out of which 30(20%) belong to the age group below 25 years, majority of the study samples i.e.73 (48.7%) belong to the age group of 26-30 years, 35(23.3%) belong to the age group of 31- 35 years, 12(8.0%) belong to 36-40 years. Also, 42(28%) were male and 108(72%) were female, majority of the samples i.e.90(60%) were post graduates teaching faculties. Majority of the study samples were unmarried 95 (63.3%) and 55(36.7%) married.Also, depression, anxiety and stress were seen in 48(31.9%), 66(43%) and 36(23%) faculties respectively. Depression, stress and anxiety wore assessed in a range of score belonging to normal, mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe respectively. A statistically significant relationship was also observed to exist between depression with age, anxiety with educational status and stress with marital status at (p < 0.05).