Psychosocial factors as Antecedent to Role Performance among Frontline Healthcare Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose: The Corona Virus disease popularly known as COVID-19 was first diagnosed in humans in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The study sought to analyze the influence of psychosocial factors on role performance among COVID-19 frontline Healthcare Workers in Busia County, Kenya.
 Methodology: Cross-sectional research design was employed and multi stage sampling adopted to get the sample size of 298 respondents from a population of 873 frontline healthcare workers in Busia County, Kenya. Data were collected using questionnaire and interview schedule. The collected data were analyzed with multivariate regression analysis while qualitative findings were transcribed under themes.
 Findings: The variation explained by the psychosocial factors was 0.098 (9.8%). This did not change much after inclusion of confounders in the model with the final model (0.133). The study concluded that work-related psychosocial factors, especially emotional demands, work pace and role conflicts contributed to challenging work performance. Therefore psychosocial factors were a major predictor of role performance.
 Recommendation: The study recommends need to use based psychosocial factors to help change frontline HCWs working practices in order to enable them realize full potential in role performance.

Professional satisfaction in nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Operational Conditions, a domain that presented averages consistent with job dissatisfaction, should be compared longitudinally because they may have been worsened in the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the abrupt increase in work demand, the domain may have captured workers’ perceptions of task fragmentation, insufficient staffing, absenteeism, turnover, and exposure to suffering and death ( 1 , 7 , 15 - 16 ) .…”

“…The leadership practice and organizational commitment evaluated in the Supervision and Operational Conditions domains are indicators of potential or achieved improvements in the work process and consequently drivers of job satisfaction among nursing workers ( 7 , 16 , 19 , 21 , 26 - 28 ) .…”

“…It is believed that satisfaction and work context are not limited to the physical or social space in which the activities are developed, but also include interpersonal relationships; the perception of workers about how important their work is, with recognition by society; the service dynamics, with the availability of minutes during the shift for discussions and reflections; the stimulus to experience humor, altruism and self-observation; and organizational support with the creation of physical spaces for workers to rest ( 7 , 16 , 19 , 26 - 28 ) .…”

“…During the work in the pandemic period, the impossibility of holding conversation circles associated with the negative experiences of nursing workers, such as emotional exhaustion, stress, dissatisfaction, overload, frustration, insecurity, feelings of devaluation, indignation, uselessness, disqualification, injustice, discrimination, and lack of recognition ( 7 , 15 , 19 , 25 - 27 ) , may have interfered in the completion of the instrument, including discouraging professionals to participate.…”

“…Some models consider the worker’s evaluation of his/her function, which should be translated into a positive feeling of well-being if there is satisfaction ( 6 ) . However, some models delve into the factors that would lead to dissatisfaction, such as increased workload, private life impaired by work, remuneration, and repetitive or monotonous activities in the daily work routine ( 7 - 8 ) .…”