Psychological and Coping Responses of Health Care Workers Toward Emerging Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Chew, Qian Hui; Wei, Ker Chiah; Vasoo, Shawn; Sim, Kang

doi:10.4088/jcp.20r13450

Cited by 50 publications

(91 citation statements)

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“…Another study reported that stress levels among medical staff during the pandemic were higher than usual [ 29 ]. In addition, previous studies on the mental health of the general public and healthcare workers in the COVID-19 pandemic/epidemic have been reported [ 7 , 30 , 31 ]. Our results indicate that in Japan, as in other countries, substantial mental health problems have developed among healthcare workers since implementing COVID-19 infection control measures [ 5 , 32 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coping Mechanisms: Exploring Strategies Utilized by Japanese Healthcare Workers to Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tahara

Mashizume

Takahashi

2020

IJERPH

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The COVID-19 pandemic is a major problem affecting the mental health of millions of people, including healthcare workers. In this study, we analyzed risk factors and coping mechanisms that could reduce the risk of poor mental health among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. A cross-sectional survey was conducted for 7 days from 30 April 2020 using a web-based questionnaire. The survey assessed various outcome measures, including the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), health status, satisfaction with daily life activities, work, leisure, and new activities, and anxiety over COVID-19. Data from 661 participants were analyzed, and 440 participants (66.6%) showed poor mental health (GHQ-12 ≥ 4). Also, our result showed that female gender, lower levels of communication with friends, and high anxiety were associated with poorer mental health. In contrast, good health status, high work satisfaction, and high satisfaction from new activities were associated with buffering mental health problem. Most participants chose an escape-avoidance coping strategy, and participants with worse mental health were more likely to adopt seeking social support as a coping strategy. These results may support healthcare workers to cope with mental health problems associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rates of mental health problems were previously reported to be higher in healthcare workers than in the general population [ 31 ]. Approximately 40.4% of the general population was reported to have psychological problems resulting from stress associated with COVID-19 [ 33 ], which was lower than the 66.6% rate in our study participants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping Mechanisms: Exploring Strategies Utilized by Japanese Healthcare Workers to Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tahara

Mashizume

Takahashi

2020

IJERPH

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“…Recent reviews and original investigations confirm a high rate of anxious and depressive symptoms, as well as poor sleep quality and post-traumatic symptoms (Johnson et al, 2020), among HCW (Chew et al, 2020;Pappa et al, 2020;Talevi et al, 2020;Vindegaard and Benros, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mental Health Outcomes Among Healthcare Workers and the General Population During the COVID-19 in Italy

et al. 2020

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IntroductionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers in Italy have been exposed to an unprecedented pressure and traumatic events. However, no direct comparison with the general population is available so far. The aim of this study is to detail mental health outcomes in healthcare workers compared to the general population.Methods24050 respondents completed an on-line questionnaire during the contagion peak, 21342 general population, 1295 second-line healthcare workers, and 1411 front-line healthcare workers. Depressive, anxious, post-traumatic symptoms and insomnia were assessed. Specific COVID-19 related potential risk factors were also considered in healthcare workers.ResultsDepressive symptoms were more frequent in the general population (28.12%) and front-line healthcare workers (28.35%) compared to the second-line healthcare workers (19.98%) groups. Anxiety symptoms showed a prevalence of 21.25% in the general population, 18.05% for second-line healthcare workers, and 20.55% for front-line healthcare workers. Insomnia showed a prevalence of 7.82, 6.58, and 9.92% for the general population, second-line healthcare workers, and front-line healthcare workers, respectively. Compared to the general population, front-line healthcare workers had higher odds of endorsing total trauma-related symptoms. Both second-line healthcare workers and front-line healthcare workers had higher odds of endorsing core post-traumatic symptoms compared to the general population, while second-line healthcare workers had lower odds of endorsing negative affect and dissociative symptoms. Higher total traumatic symptom score was associated with being a front-line healthcare worker, having a colleague infected, hospitalized, or deceased, being a nurse, female gender, and younger age.ConclusionThis study suggests a significant psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Italian general population and healthcare workers. Front-line healthcare workers represent a specific at-risk population for post-traumatic symptoms. These findings underline the importance of monitoring and intervention strategies.

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“…In particular, pandemic-related stress and adversity may lead to or exacerbate common prenatal mental health difficulties, including depressive symptoms, which, in turn, have been found to negatively influence maternal-child health (Glover, 2014). Disasters and disease outbreaks are complex humanitarian events that give rise to many forms of individual-level adversity (Beaglehole et al, 2018;Chew, Wei, Vasoo, & Sim, 2020). Similar to other disasters and epidemics, the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to increase stress and adversity; however, this pandemic is unprecedented in its characteristics and the reach of its impact (O'Connor et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stress and adversity in any form can be depressogenic (Hammen, 2005), including during or after disasters (Gruebner et al, 2016;Norris, Tracy, & Galea, 2009;Self-Brown, Lai, Harbin, & Kelley, 2014). Although research examining the psychological effects of disease outbreaks prior to COVID-19 is limited, studies have documented elevated depressive symptoms in general population samples following the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Ebola epidemics (Chew et al, 2020). With respect to COVID-19, emerging findings indicate that depressive symptoms were elevated in the general population compared to historical norms in the weeks following the first shelter-in-place orders in the U.S. and the U.K. (Fancourt et al, 2020;Nelson, Pettitt, Flannery, & Allen, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pregnancy during the pandemic: the impact of COVID-19-related stress on risk for prenatal depression

et al. 2021

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Background Pregnant women may be especially susceptible to negative events (i.e. adversity) related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and negative affective responses to these events (i.e. stress). We examined the latent structure of stress and adversity related to the COVID-19 pandemic among pregnant women, potential antecedents of COVID-19-related stress and adversity in this population, and associations with prenatal depressive symptoms. Method We surveyed 725 pregnant women residing in the San Francisco Bay Area in March−May 2020, 343 of whom provided addresses that were geocoded and matched by census tract to measures of community-level risk. We compared their self-reported depressive symptoms to women matched on demographic factors and history of mental health difficulties who were pregnant prior to the pandemic. Results Women who were pregnant during the pandemic were nearly twice as likely to have possible depression than were matched women who were pregnant prior to the pandemic. Individual- and community-level factors tied to socioeconomic inequality were associated with latent factors of COVID-19-related stress and adversity. Beyond objective adversity, subjective stress responses were strongly associated with depressive symptoms during the pandemic. Conclusions Highlighting the role of subjective responses in vulnerability to prenatal depression and factors that influence susceptibility to COVID-19-related stress, these findings inform the allocation of resources to support recovery from this pandemic and future disease outbreaks. In addition to policies that mitigate disruptions to the environment due to the pandemic, treatments that focus on cognitions about the self and the environment may help to alleviate depressive symptoms in pregnant women.

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Psychological and Coping Responses of Health Care Workers Toward Emerging Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Cited by 50 publications

References 0 publications

Coping Mechanisms: Exploring Strategies Utilized by Japanese Healthcare Workers to Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Coping Mechanisms: Exploring Strategies Utilized by Japanese Healthcare Workers to Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mental Health Outcomes Among Healthcare Workers and the General Population During the COVID-19 in Italy

Pregnancy during the pandemic: the impact of COVID-19-related stress on risk for prenatal depression

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