Mental health among healthcare workers and other vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic and other coronavirus outbreaks: A rapid systematic review

Uphoff, Eleonora; Lombardo, Chiara; Johnston, Gordon; Weeks, Lauren; Rodgers, Mark; Dawson, Sarah; Seymour, Catherine; Kousoulis, Antonis A.; Churchill, Rachel

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0254821

Cited by 78 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Though it has been demonstrated that the trend of contagion has differently affected the mental health status of HCWs working in areas with dissimilar incidences of COVID-19 cases [ 23 , 24 ], it is also true that regional differences in stress perception and coping strategies also depend on cultural factors, home/work interface, social support, and economic environment [ 25 , 26 ]. In a Chinese study, comparing subjects coming from Hubei and from non-endemic provinces, health workers in the endemic region showed lower anxiety levels about the COVID-19 epidemic [ 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of Life, Insomnia and Coping Strategies during COVID-19 Pandemic in Hospital Workers. A Cross-Sectional Study

Italia

Costa

Briguglio

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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COVID-19 became a pandemic in a few months, leading to adverse health outcomes, reducing the quality of life, affecting the sleep/wake cycle, and altering coping strategies, especially among hospital personnel. Life quality, insomnia, and coping strategies were thus assessed among hospital personnel during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. This cross-sectional study was conducted from May to November 2020 through an online survey. There were 558 participants (28.5% males and 71.5% females) enrolled in two different metropolitan areas (in North and South of Italy, respectively). Three standardized questionnaires were administered: European Quality of life–5 Dimensions (EQ-5D), Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), and Brief COPE. Differences in sociodemographic characteristics and work-related factors were also investigated in order to identify possible predictors through a generalized linear model and logistic regression analysis. Results showed good perceived life quality and high insomnia prevalence. After sample stratification, the statistical analysis highlighted that personal (gender, age, educational level) and work-related factors (employment in COVID wards, remote working) played different roles in predicting quality of life, insomnia, and coping attitude. Active, Planning, and Acceptance were the most frequently adopted coping strategies. Despite women confirming their attitude in reacting to the difficulties, adopting emotion-focused coping strategies, they showed a higher probability to develop insomnia, so a gender perspective should be considered in the health protection of this working category. An integrated approach should be implemented at individual, interpersonal and organizational levels aiming to monitor psychological distress, favor regular sharing and communication between peers, and also allow conciliation of work with family life. At the organizational level, preventive and protective measures adequate to work-related risk to COVID-19 should be adopted.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of Life, Insomnia and Coping Strategies during COVID-19 Pandemic in Hospital Workers. A Cross-Sectional Study

Italia

Costa

Briguglio

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…The literature on healthcare workers during pandemic has highlighted several issues, the key of them are connected with a lack of evidence on interventions for vulnerable groups, healthcare staff in particular (Uphoff et al, 2021). The findings of this research show that personal factors, the work environment, and social networks for mental health are the key risk-and protective factors in healthcare staff.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Cognition, Emotions, and Language in Front-Line Healthcare Workers: Clinical and Ethical Implications for Assessment Measures

Zasiekina

Pastryk²,

Kozihora

et al. 2021

Psycholing.

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Objectives. The article aims to reveal language-based markers of stressful experiences in healthcare workers in terms of their cognitions and emotions. The following research questions were formulated for the current study: (1) Are risk and protective factors for psychological stress in healthcare staff, working with patients with COVID-19 aligned with anxiety, depression and resilience? (2) Are there any language-based indicators for emotional distress in healthcare staff, working with patients with COVID-19? (3) What are the key cognitions, emotions, and behavioral patterns are expressed in healthcare workers’ staff language? (4) What are words-associations in the Ukrainian Associative Dictionary aligned with language-based indicators of professional ethics in healthcare staff? Materials and Methods. The study applies Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), the Psychological Stress Scale (PSM-25), and the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC 2015). Results. Results show that healthcare staff demonstrates a low level of psychological stress, depression and anxiety, and a medium level of resilience. The results of multiple linear regression indicate that the only significant negative predictor of stress is resilience. The psycholinguistic analysis of healthcare staff's narrative on their professional experience treating COVID-19 patients shows the key meaningful categories, namely social contacts, cognitive processes, and time. Social contacts are primarily represented by the category family. The word-associations from the Ukrainian Associative Dictionary indicate that feeling of guilt related to professional ethics in healthcare staff is more expressed in men compared with women. Conclusion. The insights gained from this study may be of assistance to developing effective interventions for healthcare staff during a pandemic, primarily focusing on protective factors and weakening feelings of guilt to prevent moral injury. The study also raises some issues of the clinical psycholinguistic approach to examining emotional distress. This approach would be a fruitful area for further work.

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“…37 Identified risk factors such as female gender, younger age, being a first-line healthcare worker, living in urban areas, having lower income and worse self-reported health status agree with the literature. 38 As for the respondents' knowledge and perceptions towards the new coronavirus, the vast majority acknowledged that the virus may be asymptomatic and that it is dangerous for older people and for those with underlying health problems. Furthermore, almost two thirds of respondents agreed with its airborne transmission although this topic was still controversial among researchers by that time with some data supporting this mode of transmission, [39][40][41] while other studies did not.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 psychological impact, knowledge and perceptions of healthcare professionals in Greece: Α nationwide cross-sectional study

et al. 2021

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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of healthcare professionals is currently under research and prevalence of mental health symptoms across the world vary a lot. Moreover, knowledge and perceptions of healthcare professionals towards the new coronavirus is yet to be explored since very few data have been published to date. Thus, we decided to conduct a cross-sectional, web-based survey to measure the levels of depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21. The knowledge and perceptions of healthcare professionals towards the new coronavirus were also examined with a self-constructed questionnaire. Data were collected between April 19th and May 31st 2020. In total, 1484 professionals participated in the survey and 1064 completed it in full; 60.8% were females, 66.5% were physicians and 24.3% were first-line healthcare workers. The prevalence of at least moderate symptoms was 13% for depression, 11.9% for anxiety, and 11.3% for stress. Women, younger participants, residents in urban areas, having lower income and worse self-reported health status had higher scores in all outcomes. First-line healthcare workers also indicated higher anxiety scores compared to those who were not first responders. Regarding knowledge and perceptions, most participants agreed with the asymptomatic nature of the virus and its heightened danger for older individuals and those with underlying health conditions. Different views were expressed regarding the possibility of airborne transmission, its similarity to common flu, and the statements that the new coronavirus is manufactured and serves a specific purpose and that it is out of control. In conclusion, the results of our study suggest that the prevalence of depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms in Greek healthcare professionals is placed in the lower end of the range reported from various recent studies across the world. Nevertheless, professionals at risk should be monitored closely and supported when needed.

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Mental health among healthcare workers and other vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic and other coronavirus outbreaks: A rapid systematic review

Cited by 78 publications

References 31 publications

Quality of Life, Insomnia and Coping Strategies during COVID-19 Pandemic in Hospital Workers. A Cross-Sectional Study

Quality of Life, Insomnia and Coping Strategies during COVID-19 Pandemic in Hospital Workers. A Cross-Sectional Study

Cognition, Emotions, and Language in Front-Line Healthcare Workers: Clinical and Ethical Implications for Assessment Measures

COVID-19 psychological impact, knowledge and perceptions of healthcare professionals in Greece: Α nationwide cross-sectional study

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