ENACT Study: What has helped health and social care workers maintain their mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic? Adaptive coping, team resilience, help-seeking behaviour and work based supports

Abstract

Rapid studies have highlighted the adverse mental health impact of COVID-19 on health and social care workers (HSCWs). Complementing this work, we report on the psychosocial factors that have helped HSCWs adapt to the adversities associated with COVID-19 and protect staff wellbeing in Scotland. The ENACT study collected data from HSCWs (n= 1364) in Scotland during the third national lockdown. Using a cross-sectional design, participants completed an online survey providing quantitative data and free responses. A multi-method approach to analysis was used. The majority of HSCWs were found to have low wellbeing scores, high levels of COVID-19 stress, worry, burnout and risk perception scores and almost half of HSCWs met the clinical cut off for acute stress. Adaptive coping strategies and increased perceived team resilience helped mitigate against the adverse impact that COVID-19 stressors have on HSCWs’ mental wellbeing. HSCWs were significantly more likely to seek informal support for dealing with personal or emotional problems. Barriers to formal help-seeking were identified including stigma and fears of consequence of disclosure. HSCWs most valued peer support, workplace supports, visible leadership and teamwork. Our findings illuminate the complexity of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on HSCWs’ wellbeing and will inform future intervention development to increase positive adaptation amongst staff. Addressing barriers to mental health help-seeking among HSCWs is essential. The implications emphasise the importance of lessons learned across health and social care contexts, planning and preparedness for future pandemics.

Randomized controlled trial of emotion-focused training for helping professionals

“…Compassion fatigue, a set of negative psychological symptoms resulting from providing care and exposure to traumatic content ( Figley, 1995b ), has been widely researched in recent years as it has a negative impact on both the personal and professional lives of helping professionals. This trend has become even more visible in the last couple of years with the COVID-19 pandemic and its corrosive impact on helping professionals (e.g., Cogan et al, 2022 ). According to Stamm (2010) , compassion fatigue can be defined as a combination of secondary traumatic stress and burnout, where secondary traumatic stress is related to exposure to traumatic events that results in fear, intrusive imagery, avoidance etc., and burnout is related to workplace stressors that reduce effectiveness at work and elicit feelings of hopelessness.…”