Launching a resiliency group program to assist frontline clinicians in meeting the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic: Results of a hospital-based systems trial

Park, Elyse R.; Sylvia, Louisa G.; Streck, Joanna M.; Luberto, Christina M.; Stanton, Amelia M.; Perez, Giselle K.; Baim, Margaret; Bliss, Cayley C.; Convery, Mary Susan; Crute, Sydney; Denninger, John W.; Donelan, Karen; Dossett, Michelle L.; Fava, Maurizio; Fredriksson, Stacie; Fricchione, Gregory L.; George, Nevita; Hall, Daniel L.; Hart, Betsy R; Herman, John B.; Hirschberg, April; Holt, Daphne J.; Looby, Sara E; Malloy, Laura; Meek, Jocelyn; Mehta, Darshan; Millstein, Rachel; Mizrach, Helen; Rosa, Katherine Cowen; Slawsby, Ellen; Stupinski, A. Clare; Traeger, Lara; Vanderkruik, Rachel; Vogeli, Christine; Wilhelm, Sabine

doi:10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2020.10.005

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…As reported in Park et al, [18] program participants had a mean age of 45 years, were 92.1% female, 83.3% white, from 15 institutions, and had varied clinical roles (see Table 1).…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 83%

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Frontline clinician concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative inquiry

Vanderkruik

Mizrach

Crute

et al. 2021

JHA

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Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has strained healthcare systems worldwide, placing a high psychological burden on frontline clinicians. There is an urgent need to better understand their stressors and determine if stressors differ by clinical role. The present study assessed the concerns among frontline clinicians across a large healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform the development of tailored supportive services.Methods: From March – June 2020, frontline clinicians across the Mass General Brigham healthcare system were invited to register for an adapted mind-body resiliency group program. Clinicians completed pre- and post-program assessments asking them to report their COVID-19-related concerns. Qualitative data were analyzed in aggregate and by clinical role using content analysis to identify overarching domains.Results: Frontline clinicians’ concerns fall within seven domains: concerns for self, patients, family members, staff, existential concerns, systems-level concerns, and job-level concerns. Concerns for self and existential concerns were most commonly reported across clinical roles. Long-term care clinicians were highly concerned about patients’ wellbeing while rehabilitation therapists were highly concerned about their family members’ health. Across groups, nurse practitioners and physician assistants more often reported job-level concerns. Concerns for staff and systems level concerns were less frequently reported across clinical roles.Conclusions: Frontline clinicians share common pandemic-related concerns, but nuances exist among the concerns most frequently reported across clinical roles. Interventions that offer stress management and resiliency training may be helpful for addressing pandemic-related concerns overall. Future research should determine if tailored support services by clinical role may be warranted.

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“…As reported in Park et al, [18] program participants had a mean age of 45 years, were 92.1% female, 83.3% white, from 15 institutions, and had varied clinical roles (see Table 1).…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Significant improvements were reported in resiliency, stress coping, emotional distress, loneliness, mindfulness, and self-compassion. [18] 2.2 Sociodemographic information Demographic information collected included age, sex, race and ethnicity, and clinical role.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frontline clinician concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative inquiry

Vanderkruik

Mizrach

Crute

et al. 2021

JHA

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“…[25,26] Recently, the SMART-3RP was delivered to frontline COVID-19 healthcare workers and resulted in improvements in stress coping, resiliency, emotionally balanced thoughts, emotional distress, and mindfulness. [27] Considering social distancing demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, one approach could be offering remotely-delivered (e.g., virtual) interventions with options for asynchronous content to accommodate variable shift schedules among healthcare workers occupying different clinical roles. [25] If health uncertainty is found to impact psychological outcomes, interventions like the SMART-3RP may provide benefit by promoting tolerance of uncertainty and thereby improved psychological functioning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health uncertainty among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Hall

Luberto

Markowitz

et al. 2021

JHA

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Objective: Health uncertainty among healthcare workers has yet to be examined as a contributor to the psychological toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to (1) characterize health uncertainty levels among healthcare workers in a large, U.S. hospital system during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) examine associations between health uncertainty and psychological outcomes.Methods: From March to June 2020, healthcare workers in a large, urban U.S. healthcare system were invited to complete an online questionnaire. Self-report measures assessed sociodemographic characteristics and job roles, health uncertainty, and emotional wellbeing variables (anxiety, depression, loneliness, self-compassion, and coping confidence). Health uncertainty (categorical and continuous scores) was compared across each variable using correlations and ANOVAs.Results: Healthcare workers (N = 440) were on average 44.5 years of age, 88.9% female, and 84.5% non-Hispanic white. Over half (52%) endorsed experiencing health uncertainty “sometimes” to “all the time”. While unrelated to sociodemographic characteristics (ps > .05), health uncertainty was highest among pharmacists and technicians, with levels significantly higher than other roles including physicians (p < .05) and mental health and spiritual counselors (p < .05). Higher health uncertainty was associated with higher anxiety (p < .001), depression (p < .001), and loneliness (p < .001), higher self-compassion (p = .02), and lower coping confidence (p < .001).Conclusions: Health uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic is common among healthcare workers, with higher levels related to poorer emotional wellbeing and less confidence in their coping abilities. Further research is needed to understand the relationships between healthcare workers’ health uncertainties and associated factors (i.e., job roles) and to identify whether health uncertainty may be a modifiable target for future interventions.

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“…To minimize participant burden, particularly in light of the substantial workload of healthcare workers during the pandemic, the survey was composed of a limited number of items selected from validated questionnaires, with the exception of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4; (Löwe et al, 2010), which was included in its entirety (four items, two assessing anxiety and two assessing depression) to capture emotional distress. Other questions assessed a range of outcomes including demographic characteristics, COVID-19 related anxiety, resilience (with two items from the Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al, 2008)), coping (Park et al, 2021); loneliness (with two items from the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996)); self-compassion (with one item from the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff et al, 2019)), and burn-out (with one item from the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach et al, 1986).…”

Section: Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Resilience in Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic with a Brief Online Intervention

DeTore

Sylvia

Park

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Introduction: The psychological wellbeing of healthcare workers has been impacted by the high levels of stress many have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a brief online course focused on introducing skills that could increase resilience and decreases emotional distress in healthcare workers during the pandemic. Materials and Methods: Employees of a large healthcare system completed a survey at baseline, one month, and two months later. The online course, called Resilience Training for Healthcare Workers, consists of three 12-20 minute videos focused on evidence-based skills that support aspects of emotional resilience: mindfulness, mentalization, and self-compassion. Results: A total of 554 participants completed the baseline survey, endorsing moderate to high levels of emotional distress. Of those who completed all three assessments and participated in the course (n = 38), significant improvements in resilience and reductions in emotional distress were found across two months, in comparison to those who did not participate in the course. Discussion: These findings suggest that a brief, online intervention can improve the mental health of healthcare workers during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Launching a resiliency group program to assist frontline clinicians in meeting the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic: Results of a hospital-based systems trial

Cited by 12 publications

References 10 publications

Frontline clinician concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative inquiry

Frontline clinician concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative inquiry

Health uncertainty among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Promoting Resilience in Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic with a Brief Online Intervention

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