Mental health of healthcare professionals during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative investigation from the first and second pandemic years

Abstract

Healthcare staff have been facing particular mental health challenges during the COVID-19-pandemic. Building on a first study at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, we aimed to investigate among healthcare professionals in Germany and Austria (1) how mental health may have changed in professionals over the course of the ongoing pandemic, (2) whether there are differences between different professional groups regarding mental health, (3) which stress factors may explain these mental health outcomes and (4) whether help-seeking behaviour is related to caretaker self-image or team climate. Between March and June 2021, N=639 healthcare professionals completed an online survey including the ICD-10 Symptom Rating checklist, event-sampling questions on pandemic-related stressors and self-formulated questions on help-seeking behaviour and team climate. Findings were analysed using t-tests, regressions and comparisons to a sample of healthcare professionals assessed in 2020 as well as to norm samples. Results show that mental health symptoms, particularly for depression and anxiety, persist among healthcare staff in the second pandemic year, that symptom prevalence rates are higher among nursing staff compared with physicians and paramedics and that team climate is associated with mental health outcomes. Implications of these findings in relation to the persisting pandemic and its aftermath are discussed.

Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve: a cross-sectional investigation of whether and how healthcare staff’s working conditions and mental health symptoms have changed throughout 3 pandemic years

“…Help-seeking behaviour was operationalised with a single-matrix item from the previous two study waves. 2 3 The item assessed whether or not participants had sought help for the psychological strain they had experienced and why or, if they had not, whether they would like to do so in the future, which kind of help they might like (eg, psychotherapy or something more informal), as well as their reasoning for their help-seeking willingness or hesitancy (eg, because they felt they were not suffering enough to warrant this, because they felt others had it worse, because they preferred dealing with things by themselves).…”

“…Perceived work culture was assessed with a set of 17 items from, 2 encompassing how participants perceived the communication among colleagues (eg, ‘My colleagues talk to me about their worries and issues’) and social comparisons among colleagues concerning strength and resilience in the face of difficulties (eg, ‘My colleagues can deal with issues better than I do’).…”

“…Job demands, that is, workplace-related stressors and employers’ actions taken against them were assessed with a list of 17 self-constructed items modified and expanded from the previous study wave. 2 The items were presented as a matrix: for each demand (eg, staff shortages, lack of safety equipment to guard against infection), participants were asked to rate how strongly they felt affected by the job demand, whether they believed it was within their employer’s power to do anything to mitigate the job demand and, if so, whether they believed the employer had taken any action to do so, and the extent to which they felt the employer’s actions had improved the issue.…”

“…In our previous study, looking at mental health symptoms in healthcare professionals in Germany and Austria in 2021 and comparing these rates to our findings from 2020, we saw that symptoms, especially for depression and anxiety, persisted in the second pandemic year. 2 The findings regarding higher symptom prevalence rates among nursing staff compared with physicians and paramedics, as well as the association between mental health outcomes and team climate, underscore the importance of understanding the impact of working conditions on employee well-being. These findings can be examined through the lens of organisational psychology theories, which provide insights into the measures employers can take to create a positive work climate and improve work outcomes for employees.…”

“…Widespread hesitancy among healthcare staff to make use of psychological support services is one such particular case. Past studies have demonstrated this hesitancy 2 23 24 and linked it to multiple external (eg, lack of time, energy) and psychological (eg, self-image of strength, helping rather than being helped) as well as social and work-related factors (eg, work culture, team climate, stigma surrounding mental health services). 23 25 26 The healthcare sector along with other helping professions (eg, police) is particularly prone to help-seeking hesitancy due to this configuration of factors 27 28 ; hence, we include it in this study as an addition to the variables operationalised within the JD-R model ( online supplemental figure 1 ).…”