An Umbrella Review of the Work and Health Impacts of Working in an Epidemic/Pandemic Environment

Abstract

This umbrella review of reviews examined the evidence on the work and health impacts of working in an epidemic/pandemic environment, factors associated with these impacts, and risk mitigation or intervention strategies that address these factors. We examined review articles published in MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Embase between 2000 and 2020. Data extracted from the included reviews were analyzed using a narrative synthesis. The search yielded 1524 unique citations, of which 31 were included. Included studies were focused on health care workers and the risk of infection to COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses, mental health outcomes, and health care workers’ willingness to respond during a public health event. Reviews identified a variety of individual, social, and organizational factors associated with these work and health outcomes as well as risk mitigation strategies that addressed study outcomes. Only a few reviews examined intervention strategies in the workplace such as physical distancing and quarantine, and none included long-term outcomes of exposure or work during an epidemic/pandemic. Findings suggest a number of critical research and evidence gaps, including the need for reviews on occupational groups potentially exposed to or impacted by the negative work and health effects of COVID-19 in addition to health care workers, the long-term consequences of transitioning to the post-COVID-19 economy on work and health, and research with an equity or social determinants of health lens.

The Mediating Role of Resilience in the Relationship between Perceived Stress and Mental Health

“…With regard to our first research question concerning the levels of stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression nurses experienced, our findings showed that nurses who provided direct patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Canary Islands, Spain, reported a considerable prevalence of perceived stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression. These results were in line with recent studies that revealed that the prevalence of anxiety and depression disorders was relatively high among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 11 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. Our results confirmed our first hypothesis, which posited that nurses’ perceived stress was positively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression.…”

The Work Environment during Coronavirus Epidemics and Pandemics: A Systematic Review of Studies Using Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed-Methods Designs

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review of studies describing the impact of healthcare epidemics and pandemics (COVID-19, MERS, and SARS) on the work environment and employee health, and the effect of interventions, including industries within and outside healthcare organizations. Previous reviews have reported healthcare to be the most thoroughly studied industry [ 5 , 9 ] and the present review confirms this is still the case.…”

“…Therefore, there is a need to systematically review the current research on how corona epidemics and pandemics impacted working life and employee health, and what measures aimed at counteracting negative health effects on employees were effective. Several reviews of the work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic have been published [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. However, most reviews focused solely on the impact on healthcare organizations [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 12 ], and it is important to include studies describing other labor market industries and how they are affected by epidemics and pandemics.…”

“…However, most reviews focused solely on the impact on healthcare organizations [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 12 ], and it is important to include studies describing other labor market industries and how they are affected by epidemics and pandemics. Two reviews had a broader scope: an umbrella review from Canada [ 9 ] and a systematic review from Brazil [ 5 ]. However, the umbrella review did not evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies, and the systematic review did not include intervention studies targeting work environment factors.…”

The Mediating Role of Fear of COVID-19 in the Association between COVID-19–Related Work Stressors and Subjective Well-being

“…Studies have outlined several severe health-related consequences of fear of COVID-19 in particular for healthcare workers. 14,15 However, we argue that these studies take a somewhat healthcare-biased perspective, 16 which makes it difficult to transfer knowledge to other occupations since healthcare professionals are more familiar with disease prevention in the context of their job unlike ECPs. Most studies were conducted with small samples during initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (including lockdown periods), which can be seen as a general limitation.…”