Paradoxical experiences of healthcare workers during COVID-19: a qualitative analysis of anonymous, web-based, audio narratives

Abstract

Purpose To gain a deeper understanding of healthcare workers experiences during COVID-19 using an anonymous, web-based, audio narrative platform. Methods Data were collected from healthcare workers in the midwestern United States using a web-enabled audio diary approach. Participant recordings were analysed using a narrative coding and conceptualization process derived from grounded theory coding techniques. Results Fifteen healthcare workers, in direct patient care or non-patient care roles, submitted 18 audio narratives. Two paradoxical themes emerged: 1) A paradox of distress and meaningfulness, where a harsh work environment resulted in psychological distress while simultaneously resulting in new rewarding experiences, sense of purpose and positive outlooks. 2) A paradox of social isolation and connection, where despite extreme isolation, healthcare workers formed intense and meaningful interpersonal connections with patients and colleagues in new ways. Conclusions A web-enabled audio diary approach provided an opportunity for healthcare workers to reflect deeper on their experiences without investigator influence, which led to some unique findings. Paradoxically, amid social isolation and extreme distress, a sense of value, meaning and rewarding human connections emerged. These findings suggest that interventions addressing healthcare worker burnout and distress might be enhanced by leveraging naturally occurring positive experiences as much as mitigating negative ones.

Core stories of physicians on a Swiss internal medicine ward during the first COVID-19 wave: a qualitative exploration

“…caring for patients with COVID-19, special attention was paid to the risk of burnout and compassion fatigue and to the need to both build resilience among professionals [45,46] and mitigate the repeated trauma exposure [47]. In our study, we also found experiences connected to the interpersonal world (focus: belonging).…”

“…An important contribution of this study relies on the fact that data consisted of (almost) "naturally-occurring narratives", and were not framed by investigators' questions, thus revealing matters of interest, satisfaction and concern of physicians during W1. A similar approach was adopted by Lackman-Zeman et al, [46] who used web-enabled audio diaries.…”

What Healthcare Workers Told Us about Working through the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of Digital Audio Stories

“…While the frst two themes appeared in the previous analysis during the frst wave of the pandemic [5], the themes of leadership failures and changing roles emerged during the second surge of the pandemic. Tough many studies also reported similar fndings related to the frst two themes, relatively few studies have highlighted leadership issues and changing role expectations during the pandemic [9,10].…”

“…Comparing the frst and second audio diary analyses from the larger study ofered the following insights [5]: First, there was a continuation of stories relating to both fear and hope. Te frst analysis labeled the themes as paradoxical.…”