Prevalence and Pattern of Addictive Behaviors among Health Care Personnel During the COVID-19 Quarantine

Abstract

Background: Internet addiction has significant effects on the mental health of several individuals, including health care workers. Objective: to examine the prevalence of Internet usage among health care professionals (HCPs) before, during, and after Lockdown. Institution for higher education and cross-sectional study. A total of 418 health care personnel from a tertiary teaching hospital in northern India were contacted online by an investigator in order to collect data on their internet addiction. Internet Addiction (IA) was found to be highest among those aged 20 to 30 (64.3%), the majority of participants were female 73.6%, the majority were married 65.4%, the majority had incomes between 50,000 and 1 lakh (42.6%), and the majority lived in metropolitan areas (97.8%). It was substantially associated with persons' income and age (P0.005).During lockdown times, the prevalence of mild to moderate addiction increased. Severe addiction only arose once the lockout was lifted. Conclusion: the prevalence of IA among HCPs is greater than that of the general population and increased during lockdown periods.