Mental health impact on healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic: a U.S. cross-sectional survey study

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health and well-being of health care workers (HCWs). This study examined mental health outcomes and COVID-related stress impacts among a diverse sample of ambulatory HCWs, including clinicians and support staff, as well as the associations between mental health outcomes and work impairments in this population. Detailing these results can help in designing interventions to alleviate this burden. Methods “The Health Care Worker Stress Survey” was administered to ambulatory care providers and support staff at three multispecialty care delivery organizations as part of an online, cross-sectional study conducted between June 8, 2020, and July 13, 2020. Results The greatest stress impact reported by HCWs was the uncertainty regarding when the COVID-19 outbreak would be under control, while the least reported concern was about self-dying from COVID-19. Differences in COVID-19 stress impacts were observed by age, gender, and occupational risk factors. Approximately 50% of participants reported more than a minimal level of anxiety, including 22.5% who indicated moderate to severe levels of anxiety. Higher levels of anxiety were observed with younger ages and female gender, while occupational roles with increased exposure risk did not report higher levels of anxiety. Roughly two-thirds of the sample reported less than good sleep quality and one-third to one-half of the sample reported other sleep related problems that differed by age and gender. Role limitations due to emotional health correlated with COVID-19 related stress, anxiety and sleep problems. Conclusions Using established, validated measures, we quantified mental health outcomes within a diverse sample of ambulatory care HCWs during the pandemic. Younger and female HCWs reported greater anxiety burden; HCWs with higher occupational risk of COVID exposure did not report higher levels of anxiety. Notable proportions of HCWs reported sleep and work impairments. Due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, it is difficult to attribute these patterns to the pandemic. These results underscore the depth and extent of mental health outcomes in HCWs in ambulatory settings and raise important questions on new interventions to relieve that burden. Further research is needed to study specific interventions to support the mental health and wellbeing of HCWs.

Mentalizing, Resilience, and Mental Health Status among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…In terms of sociodemographic, work, and COVID-19-related characteristics, our findings showed that age, in a model with only control variables, was a significant negative predictor of anxiety and stress, which means that older healthcare workers reported less anxiety and stress. This finding is in line with the results of research conducted by Biber et al in the USA [ 44 ] and Yassin et al in Jordan [ 45 ]. Moreover, in the model with only control variables, gender was a significant predictor of mental health status indicators of anxiety and stress in the sense that women had higher levels of anxiety and stress, which is in line with the studies conducted by Xiao et al [ 26 ], Biber et al [ 44 ], and Lai et al [ 27 ].…”

Global conflict escalation during the pandemic, climate, and economic dilemmas: Healthcare sustainability challenges in conflict zones and elsewhere

“…Pandemic hits on healthcare system: The pandemic's longest and most deadly surge has posed risks to quality of care and left medical professionals exhausted. Various studies on health professionals show work-related stress, sleep disturbances and burnouts in 60% (Al-Otaibi et al, 2022;Biber et al, 2022;Koontalay et al, 2021); and hospitalization within 6 months of the pandemic starting 15% (Gholami et al, 2021). Also, WHO assumes that more than 1,15,000 health professionals may have died in the period between January 2020 and May 2021, and illnesses kept at least 500,000 health workers out of the US labor force alone (Guilford, 2022;WHO, 2021).…”

Healthcare Challenges due to Global Conflict Escalation Amid the Pandemic, Climate, and Economic Dilemmas

“…The pandemic's longest and most deadly surge has posed risks to quality of care and left medical professionals exhausted. Various studies on health professionals show workrelated stress, sleep disturbances and burnouts in 60% (Koontalay et al, 2021;Al-Otaibi et al, 2022;Biber et al, 2022); and hospitalization within 6 months of the pandemic starting 15% (Gholami et al, 2021). Also, WHO assumes that more than 1,15,000 health professionals may have died in the period between January 2020 and May 2021, and illnesses kept at least 500,000 health workers out of the US labor force alone (WHO, 2021;Guilford, 2022).…”