Background and Objectives: Mental health is a reflection of as to how we think, feel and behave. It is not the permanent state of mind as it keeps changing with the change in the environment of a given individual. Anxiety, stress and depression are the most common mental health issues among workers in the private and public sector. The demanding nature of the occupation exposes employees to a higher risk of developing negative mental states such as depression, anxiety, and stress.
Hence, the current study aimed to assess the prevalence of mental health issues (anxiety, stress and depression) among private and public sector employees in Delhi NCR.
Materials and Methods: In the current study, 60 employees working in the private sector (n=30) and public sector (n=30) were selected as the participants. The level of anxiety, stress and depression was assessed using Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 42 (DASS-42) questionnaire.
A Demographic Information Sheet was used to collect various demographic information about the participants including age, gender, type of family, marital status, duration of service, salary, type of employment, educational qualification etc. The data was analyzed using statistical software SPSS (version 20.0).
Results: The participants had a mean age of 42.32 years (SD=10.95) and about 33.3% participants (n=20) were female and 66.7% participants (n=40) were male. 88.3%, 6.7%, 1.7%, and 3.3% of the participants had normal, mild, moderate and severe level of depression respectively.
80%, 10%, 3.3%, 5%, and 1.7% of the participants had normal, mild, moderate, severe and very severe level of anxiety respectively. Likewise, 85%, 5%, 6.7%, and 3.3% of the participants had normal, mild, moderate and severe level of stress respectively.
The result also shows significant association between depression and anxiety level (p < 0.001), depression and stress level (p < 0.001), anxiety and stress level (p < 0.001), sector of employment and depression level (p=0.04), sector of employment and stress level (p=0.05), years of experience in the profession and depression level (p=0.003), years of experience in the profession and anxiety level (p=0.006), marital status and stress level (p=0.002) and age and depression level (p=0.03).
Conclusion: Sector of employment (private or public) had significant association with prevalence of stress and depression. Whereas, years of experience in profession was significantly associated with depression and anxiety. Marital status of the employees had significant relationship with level of stress among employees.
Policy makers need to initiate some training programmes related to physical and mental well-being for better mental health of employees which in result, can help enhance performance of employees and improve overall productivity of the organization.
