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Exploring the relationship between anxiety, depression and wellbeing in doctors: a national cross-sectional survey and interviews

Exploring the relationship between anxiety, depression and wellbeing in doctors: a national cross-sectional survey and interviews
Exploring the relationship between anxiety, depression and wellbeing in doctors: a national cross-sectional survey and interviews
Aims: to examine the relationship between depression, anxiety and wellbeing in doctors. Background: the relationship between doctor wellbeing and mental health diagnoses is not well evidenced in the literature. There is a lack of comparable measurement of wellbeing in doctors within the National Health Service, meaning the effectiveness of wellbeing interventions is unknown. Method: a cross-sectional survey containing the PHQ9, GAD7 and WEMWBS questionnaires to measure depression, anxiety and wellbeing respectively, was advertised online nationally. The relationships between the total scores were explored using Spearman's rho correlation coefficients and Chi square tests. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews offered further insights. Result: sixty-seven doctors returned completed questionnaires. 29.9% had PHQ9 scores >5 and 41.8% had GAD7 scores >5. Therefore, over a quarter of the participants had a score that would suggest a management plan was needed for depression, and a third for anxiety. Moderate negative correlation between the total WEMWBS scores and the total PHQ , rs= –0.775, p = 0.00, N = 67 and GAD7 scores rs= –0.724, , p = 0.00, N = 67 was seen. Statistically significant differences between those with low wellbeing scores (WEMWBS < 40) and normal wellbeing scores (WEMWBS ≥ 40) in relation to the need for a management plan for depression (PHQ9 > 10) X2 (1, N = 67) = 12.395, p = 0.00 and anxiety (GAD7>10) X2 (1, N = 67) = 5.611, p = 0.018 were seen. The main themes identified from the interviews (n = 10) were the importance of social support outside of work, cynicism about an NHS plan check-in and a tendancy to neglect wellbeing until it has dipped. Conclusion: there is a moderate negative correlation between anxiety, depression and wellbeing, but they are not opposites and separate measures for wellbeing should be used. It is clinically useful to note that only those with a WEMWBS score of <45 had a PHQ9 score suggesting the need for treatment of depression.
2056-4724
S9-S10
Boxley, Emma
2ac4f9dd-cd2a-4a94-bd8f-7e87db73e7a6
Simons, Gemma
fd1eb2bd-23d4-42a8-899b-5eeb5ad62b9c
Jenkins, John
3bf35cb9-753b-425a-a5f6-8c216a26b185
Boxley, Emma
2ac4f9dd-cd2a-4a94-bd8f-7e87db73e7a6
Simons, Gemma
fd1eb2bd-23d4-42a8-899b-5eeb5ad62b9c
Jenkins, John
3bf35cb9-753b-425a-a5f6-8c216a26b185

Boxley, Emma, Simons, Gemma and Jenkins, John (2021) Exploring the relationship between anxiety, depression and wellbeing in doctors: a national cross-sectional survey and interviews. BJPsych Open, 7 (S1), S9-S10. (doi:10.1192/bjo.2021.85).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Aims: to examine the relationship between depression, anxiety and wellbeing in doctors. Background: the relationship between doctor wellbeing and mental health diagnoses is not well evidenced in the literature. There is a lack of comparable measurement of wellbeing in doctors within the National Health Service, meaning the effectiveness of wellbeing interventions is unknown. Method: a cross-sectional survey containing the PHQ9, GAD7 and WEMWBS questionnaires to measure depression, anxiety and wellbeing respectively, was advertised online nationally. The relationships between the total scores were explored using Spearman's rho correlation coefficients and Chi square tests. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews offered further insights. Result: sixty-seven doctors returned completed questionnaires. 29.9% had PHQ9 scores >5 and 41.8% had GAD7 scores >5. Therefore, over a quarter of the participants had a score that would suggest a management plan was needed for depression, and a third for anxiety. Moderate negative correlation between the total WEMWBS scores and the total PHQ , rs= –0.775, p = 0.00, N = 67 and GAD7 scores rs= –0.724, , p = 0.00, N = 67 was seen. Statistically significant differences between those with low wellbeing scores (WEMWBS < 40) and normal wellbeing scores (WEMWBS ≥ 40) in relation to the need for a management plan for depression (PHQ9 > 10) X2 (1, N = 67) = 12.395, p = 0.00 and anxiety (GAD7>10) X2 (1, N = 67) = 5.611, p = 0.018 were seen. The main themes identified from the interviews (n = 10) were the importance of social support outside of work, cynicism about an NHS plan check-in and a tendancy to neglect wellbeing until it has dipped. Conclusion: there is a moderate negative correlation between anxiety, depression and wellbeing, but they are not opposites and separate measures for wellbeing should be used. It is clinically useful to note that only those with a WEMWBS score of <45 had a PHQ9 score suggesting the need for treatment of depression.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 18 June 2021

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 451273
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/451273
ISSN: 2056-4724
PURE UUID: b9a62eea-a5ee-4f8e-86c6-e272d17047dd
ORCID for Gemma Simons: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2454-5948

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Date deposited: 16 Sep 2021 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:55

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Author: Emma Boxley
Author: Gemma Simons ORCID iD
Author: John Jenkins

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