Mental Health of House Officers during COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

Introduction: The Covid-19 pandemic most certainly impacted the mental health of healthcare professionals in Malaysia. Aim: The aim of our research is to assess the mental health of house officers in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic and to compare this with the pre-pandemic times. Method: 122 house officers from 28 hospitals in Malaysia were recruited into the study and completed an online questionnaire of their demographics, including the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 items (DASS-21), Satisfaction with Life Scale and Brief Resilience Scale. Results: Results showed that depression (36.1%), anxiety (33.7%) and stress (23.8%) were all prevalent among house officers with depression being the most prevalent among the three. Majority of the house officers were slightly satisfied with life (30.3%) and most of them had normal resilience (71.3%). Discussion: We compared our study with 5 other studies from 2010 to 2017 and found similar prevalence in depression, anxiety and stress except for the study in 2017 which showed overall prevalence in depression, anxiety and stress. 8.2% of our subjects recorded extremely severe depression, which is almost twice as much as the two studies we have for comparison. Conclusion: Housemanship training in Malaysia is indeed a stressful period for junior doctors especially in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. More support systems should be made.