Background: Mental health disorder is common among working population worldwide and among health care-workers (HCWs) in particular. The prevalence of depression among HCWs varies significantly when taking in account different groups like among physician or among nursing staff or using different scales to assess depression.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 HCWs of King Abdul Aziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using English version of the valid patient health questionnaire-9 questionnaire.
Results: A 100% response rate was retained. The main outcome revealed that 4% of the HCWs had depression, as the initial diagnosis. Around 6.7% of them had the major depressive disorder, while 11.4% had symptoms of depression. The mean age was 28.4 (standard deviation 6.3). Depression was noted to be more prevalent during the first year of work. Socially, singles have a higher rate of depression than married.
Conclusion: This study showed the prevalence of depression among HCWs which is quite common, but it was noted to be less prevalent when it was compared to the international studies in the same field. Further studies should be conducted to explore the magnitude and impact of mental illness among HCWs.
Keywords: Depression, health care-worker, mental health, stress-induced depression.
Key words: Depression, Factors, Health care-worker.
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