Depression among Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic in Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: COVID-19 is a serious threat to the global, not only to health, economy and society but also is a great challenge to HCW’s mental health. A lot of studies were carried out and found HCW’s psychological well-being has been severely affected, especially those in the hospital setting. This study aims to determine the prevalence of depression and the factors associated with depression among HCWs in public health settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at 13 health clinics and one District Health Office in Hulu Langat District. This study was conducted from February 2021 to Mei 2021. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed consisting of three sections (sociodemographic, job characteristics and depression assessment using validated PHQ-9 tool). Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sociodemographic, and multiple logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with depression. Result: A total of 291 HCWs were involved in this study. The prevalence of depression among HCWs was 22.7 (95%CI: 22.65, 22.98). Female (Adj. OR=2.01, 95% CI: 1.016, 3.55), stress at work (Adj. OR=3.22, 95% CI: 1.48, 7.02), conflict among colleague (Adj. OR=3.33, 95% CI: 1.72, 6.34) and never attended training or orientation related COVID-19 management (Adj. OR=2.30, 95% CI=1.13, 4.70) were associated with depression. Conclusion: The prevalence of depression in this study was comparable with international studies conducted during pandemic COVID-19, but was lower than the local prevalence of depression conducted pre-pandemic. A healthy working environment needs to be conducted to ensure psychological well-being and hence alleviate the depression among HCWs.