title: Psychological evaluation of patients in critical care/intensive care unit and patients admitted in wards.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Psychological assessment for depression, anxiety and stress among ICU patients and the patients admitted to ward in a hospital in India. This aspect did not get much attention in India so far. Such studies were common in developed countries. Therefore we decided in this study, to analyse the psychological status responses from the hospitalised patients in Mangalore using a validated questionnaire.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess and compare the depression, anxiety and stress Scores from the patients admitted in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and those admitted to ward.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty patients admitted to hospital, 40 from ICU and 40 admitted to ward were recruited. They were explained the procedure and after taking an informed consent, they were administered Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS) Questionnaire, which contains 42-item questionnaire which includes three self-report scales designed to measure the negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress. The responses were computed and tabulated. We analysed the responses with Student's t-test and Chi-square test, p<0.05 accepted as statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed significantly elevated stress, depression and anxiety among the ICU patients when compared to those in the ward (p<0.001). Above normal anxiety and stress levels were also seen in the ward patients, compared to the scores in normal range. 50% and 25% respectively showed mild and normal depression scores in ward patients, compared to 12% and 5% in those admitted to ICU. This trend was also true for Anxiety and stress scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From the results we found that there were elevated depression, anxiety and stress levels among the patients and this was significantly higher in ICU patients. Various factors could influence the psychological wellbeing of the patients, including the hospital environment, care givers, presence of family members nearby apart from the seriousness of illness, apprehensions about possibility of death. Such studies were rare among Indian patients. The findings of this study could be useful in incorporating suitable psychological help to the patients in hospitals to improve their recovery and wellbeing.
authors: Student, AJ Institute of Medical Sciences and Research , Kuntikana, Mangalore, India .
authors: Gaurav
authors: G
authors: Sharma B
authors: Professor & HOD, Department of Medicine, AJ Institute of Medical Sciences and Research , Kuntikana, Mangalore, India .
authors: Maben
authors: M
authors: Evs
authors: Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College , Manipal University, Mangalore, India .
authors: Kotian
authors: K
authors: Ms
authors: Additional Professor, Department of Physiology, Kasturba Medical College , Manipal University, Mangalore, India .
authors: Ganaraja
authors: G
authors: B
keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Indian hospital; Intensive care unit; Stress
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