ArticleFamily practice2025
Prevalence and correlates of alcohol use, mental disorders, and awareness and utilization of support services among healthcare professionals in West Rand District, Gauteng, South Africa: a cross-sectional study.
Article in Family practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Gender differences in the prevalence of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder and associated factors among adults in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence and factors associated with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder among healthcare workers from sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review.BJPsych open · 2025Review
- Problem drinking and comorbidity with mental ill health: a cross-sectional study among healthcare workers in Sweden.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2025Article
- Burnout among South African nurses during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic: a holistic investigation.BMC nursing · 2025Article
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Abstract
introductionHealthcare professionals (workers) are at an increased risk for developing mental and alcohol use disorders (risky drinking) due to increased psychological distress, long working hours, medical litigation, role conflict, and verbal/physical violence from colleagues and patients. Psychological well-being in healthcare workers is crucial to provide the best quality of care to patients. Current data are limited regarding alcohol abuse (risky drinking) rates and mental health condition among healthcare professionals in South Africa.
objectivesTo describe the prevalence and correlates of alcohol use disorder (risky drinking), depression, anxiety, suicidality, and covid anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic in healthcare professionals in West Rand District, Johannesburg, South Africa.
methodsWe carried out a cross-sectional study on a sample of healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, clinical associates, and dentists working in the West Rand District of Gauteng, South Africa, during Covid-19 pandemic. Participants were invited to complete a paper-based questionnaire addressing sociodemographic questions, a set of measures for alcohol use disorder (AUDIT-C), depression (PHQ-2), anxiety (GAD-7), suicidality (PSS-3), covid anxiety (CAS), and awareness and utilization of support services.
resultsA total of 330 healthcare professionals (60.9% nurses, 33% doctors, 5.5% other) participated. Females comprised the majority of study participants with 78.8%, and 48.2% of the participants were in the age band 35-64 years. Overall, 20.9% of the healthcare professionals reported risky alcohol use. Females were 73% less likely to report risky alcohol use (AOR = 0.27;95% CI: 0.13-0.54). Prevalence of probable depression was 13.6% and female professionals were 5 times more likely to be classified as having probable depression (AOR = 4.86;95% CI: 1.08-21.90). The grouped prevalence of anxiety ranging from mild to severe was reported at 47.3%, female professionals were 3 times more likely to be classified as having anxiety disorder (AOR = 2.78;95% CI: 1.39-5.57). Furthermore, races other than African had higher rates of anxiety (AOR = 2.54; 95% CI: 1.00-6.42). The prevalence of suicide symptoms was 7.9% and that of covid dysfunctional anxiety 4.8%. Only 5% of participants were involved in an employee wellness program, with 60% expressing interest in joining one.
conclusionAlcohol use (risky drinking) and mental disorders were common among healthcare professionals in West Rand District, Johannesburg, South Africa. There is overall poor awareness and use of support structures highlighting urgent need for interventions. Future studies could also explore in-depth the drivers of mental disorders and lack of utilization of the available service and strategies to deliver alcohol and mental disorder screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment.
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