Prevalence and correlates of alcohol use, mental disorders, and awareness and utilization of support services among healthcare professionals in West Rand District, Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract

Background: Healthcare professionals (workers) are at an increased risk for developing mental and alcohol use disorders due to increased psychological distress, long working hours, medical litigation, role conflict and verbal/physical abuse from colleagues and patients. Psychological well-being in Healthcare workers is crucial to provide the best quality of care to patients. There is limited data on mental and alcohol use disorders among healthcare professionals in South Africa. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and correlates of alcohol use disorder, depression, anxiety, suicidality and covid anxiety during the covid pandemic among healthcare professionals in West Rand district, Johannesburg, South Africa. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study conducted on a sample of healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, clinical associates and dentists working in the West Rand District of Gauteng, South Africa, during Covid-19 pandemic. Participants were invited to complete a paper-based questionnaire addressing socio-demographic questions, a set of measures for alcohol use disorder (AUDIT-C), depression (PHQ-2), anxiety (GAD-7), suicidality (PSS-3), covid anxiety (CAS) and awareness and utilization of support services. Results: A total of 330 Healthcare professionals (60.9% nurses, 33% doctors, 5.5% other) participated. Majority of the participants were females 78.8%, and 48.2% of the participants were in the age band 35-64 years. Overall, 20.9% of the healthcare professionals reported risky alcohol use. Females were 73% less likely to report risky alcohol use (AOR=0.27;95% CI 0.13-0.54). Prevalence of probable depression was 13.6% and female professionals were 5 times more likely to be classified as having probable depression (AOR=4.86;95% CI=1.08-21.90). The grouped prevalence of anxiety ranging from mild to severe was reported at 47.3%, female professionals were 3 times more likely to be classified as having anxiety symptoms (AOR=2.78;95%CI 1.39-5.57). Furthermore, races other than black were found to have higher rates of anxiety (AOR=2.54; 95%CI 1.00-6.42). The prevalence of suicide symptoms was 7.9% and that of covid dysfunctional anxiety 4.8%. Only 5% of participants were involved in an employee wellness program, with 60% expressing interest in joining one. Conclusion: Alcohol use and mental disorders were common among healthcare professionals in West Rand district, Johannesburg, South Africa. There is overall poor awareness and use of support structures highlighting the need to design and pilot targeted interventions to increase awareness and utilization of the existing services and delivery of alcohol use and mental disorder screening and referral to treatment.