Shamaila Khalid, Uzma Irfan, Salma Sheikh, Mahvish Faisal.
Frequency of stress and depression in female nurses working in a teaching hospital.
Kust Med J Jan ;2(1):10-4.

Objective: To study the frequency of stress and depression in female nurses working in a teaching hospital. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital with convenient sampling method. Seventy nurses who fulfilled inclusion /exclusion criteria were assessed for depression with the help of Hamilton Rating scale .The data was analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS (version 11.0). Results: Our results showed that 30% of nursing staff had mild depresive illness, 42.9% had moderate depresive illness, 8.6% severe depresive illness and 18.6% had no symptoms of depression. Work experience and age had significant association with anxiety and depression (P value < 0.01). The major problems faced by the nurses were poor environment (27.1%), heavy work load (21.4%), hostile behavior (15.7%), problem related to transport (14.3%) and occupational hazard (12.9%). Majority of nurses suggest improving the working environment of hospital. Conclusion: The frequency of depression among nurses is reasonably high. Prolonged exposure to such depression without correct coping strategies, may emerge as a potential risk factor for the disease. This suggests that immediate steps should be taken for their control and management. This study invites further research to explore, implement and evaluate intervention strategies for prevention of depression.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com