RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of psychological distress (PD), and its associated demographic, psychosocial, hospital and health-related factors among hospital workers in Uganda during the COVID-19 related lockdown. METHODS: An online cross-sectional study was conducted among three hundred ninety six participants recruited from eight hospitals and PD was assessed using the Kessler 6 distress scale from May to June 2020. RESULTS: PD was present in 92.7% of the participants with majority (78.3%) having mild to moderate PD whereas 14.4% had severe PD. Severe PD had statistically significant association with having financial liabilities (O.R = 3.69 (1.55-8.77), p = 0.003). However, ability to maintain contact with family members and friends (O.R = 0.43 (0.22-0.84), p value = 0.013), and having enough personal protective equipment and safety tools at work place (O.R = 0.44 (0.23-0.84), p value = 0.012) were protective against severe PD. having excessive worry about getting infected with COVID-19, conflicts within a home, segregation by friends or community, longer working hours or involvement in management of suspected or confirmed case were not associated with severe PD. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate the need to take into consideration the mental wellbeing of health workers during this COVID-19 outbreak. Whereas hospital workers continue to provide their services during the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown, it is important that they maintain contact with social support networks and be provided with counselling and mental health and psychosocial services in order to optimise their mental health during this pandemic.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Reproductive planning by HIV-infected women is essential, as it helps to prevent transmission of HIV to their unborn babies. Integrating contraceptive services to routine HIV care significantly increases the use of modern contraceptive methods, thus reducing vertical transmission of HIV. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and factors associated with contraceptive use among HIV-infected women attending Infectious Disease Clinic (IDC) at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital (GRRH) in Northern Uganda. METHODOLOGY: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was performed. We used simple random sampling to recruit HIV-infected women receiving routine care from IDC, GRRH, into our study. Sample size was estimated using modified Kish-Leslie formula and semistructured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was entered into EpiData version 3.1 and analysed using Stata v11.0. We used logistic regression model to assess the associations and any factor with p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The prevalence of contraceptive use was found to be 36% (95% CI 31 - 40%). Factors which promoted contraceptive use were as follows: being married (aOR=2.68, 95% CI 1.54-4.65, p<0.001) and monthly income of $35 -250 (aOR= 2.38, 95% CI: 1.39- 4.09, p=0.002). Factors that hindered contraceptive use were having no child (nulliparity) (aOR= 0.16; 95% CI: 0.05-0.49; p=0.002) and age range of 31-49 years (aOR= 0.53; 95% CI: 0.33 - 0.84; p=0.007). CONCLUSION: In this study, just over a third of sexually active HIV-infected women reported use of modern contraceptives. This is a low level of usage and, therefore, clinicians and stakeholders should sensitise HIV-infected women on the importance of contraceptive use in the fight against HIV/AIDS and encourage them to use contraceptives to avoid vertical transmission of HIV through unintended pregnancy.
