COVID Stress among Nepal Police Officers

  • Bibek Rajbhandari Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, Nepal Police Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Bhuwaneshwar Tiwari Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), Nepal Police, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Minani Gurung Department of Public Health, Nepal Institute of Development Studies, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Lisasha Poudel Department of Community Program, Dhulikhel HospitalKathmandu University Hospital, Dhulikhel, Nepal
  • Anurag Adhikari Independent Data Analyst and Researcher, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Olita Shilpakar Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, NAMS, Bir Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Rajesh Raj Puri Research Planning and Development Directorate, Police Headquarters, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Sumi Singh Nepal Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33314/jnhrc.v19i2.3672

Abstract

Background: In Nepal, the stress factor is exacerbated by a large number of police officers working away from home with less family contact, a hectic work schedule in a pandemic situation, companions suffering from illness and updates on additional cases with rising mortality rates, and a lack of access to Personal Protection Equipment. The main aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of COVID stress among Nepal police officers working during pandemic.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among police officers (n=1526) working during pandemic in Province X Nepal. Semi-structured questionnaire was administered using google form. COVID Stress Scale -36 (CSS-36) was used to assess the stress in officers. Data collection was done after obtaining ethical approval. Data cleaning was done using a python script and then was exported to Ms. Excel for graph analysis.
Results: The highest percentage was seen in the xenophobia subscale (24.63%), followed by contamination (20.10 %) and compulsive checking (19.21%). Comparing socio-demographic variables, 18-27 aged groups including male officers and unmarried groups had experienced high COVID stress.
Conclusions: Most of the officers feared from the foreigners perceiving them the main source of COVID-19. Fears about getting contaminated related to COVID-19 was also seen high. There is a need to assess psychological issues and provide social support to police officers during this pandemic situation.
Keywords: COVID-19; police officer; stress; Nepal

Published
2021-09-06
How to Cite
Rajbhandari, B., Tiwari, B., Gurung , M., Poudel , L., Adhikari , A., Shilpakar, O., Puri, R. R., & Singh, S. (2021). COVID Stress among Nepal Police Officers. Journal of Nepal Health Research Council, 19(2), 390-395. https://doi.org/10.33314/jnhrc.v19i2.3672
Issue
Vol. 19 No. 2 (2021): Vol 19 No 2 Issue 51 Apr-Jun 2021
Section
Original Article

Copyright (c) 2021 Bibek Rajbhandari, Bhuwaneshwar Tiwari, Minani Gurung , Lisasha Poudel , Anurag Adhikari , Olita Shilpakar, Rajesh Raj Puri, Sumi Singh

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