Stress, psychological distress and support in a health care organization during Covid‐19: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

Aim:The main aim of this study was to understand what health and wellbeing initiatives are helpful for health care workers' stress and psychological distress during the Covid-19 pandemic.Background: Health care workers are at increased risk of poor mental health during health emergencies; understanding support required for health care workers is of paramount importance.Methods: Participants were health care workers at a health and social care organization (N = 159). The study included an online questionnaire including an evaluation of health and wellbeing initiatives and measures of perceived stress and psychological distress.Results: The highest rated resources were counselling, personal protective equipment (PPE) and Covid-19 testing. Those who accessed yoga reported significantly less stress and psychological distress than those who did not access yoga.Conclusions: Health care workers with higher stress and psychological distress felt less supported by their organization, less listened to and less involved in organizational decisions.Implications for nursing management: Practical implications are discussed such as forward planning for health emergencies (e.g., PPE supply), accessible Covid-19 testing as well as budgeting for counselling services and exercise classes. In addition, targeted support for those diagnosed with Covid-19 is recommended, alongside involvement of staff members in organizational decisions.

Job strain and burnout in Spanish nurses during the COVID-19: resilience as a protective factor in a cross-sectional study

“…It cannot be ignored that during the work day nurses are exposed to chronic stress [ 2 , 3 ], which generates harmful effects such as job strain, and even burnout [ 4 – 7 ]. Job stress and strain in nurses has increased with COVID-19 [ 8 ] and strong job strain has been linked to high number of individual and unit demands, generating an increase in fatigue by the end of the shift [ 9 ]. Nurse’s fatigue not only affects the health and well-being of the workers themselves and the organization due to absenteeism and nursing turnover [ 9 , 10 ], but it is directly related to patient safety and care quality [ 11 ].…”

Impact of nurses' emotional labour on job stress and emotional exhaustion amid COVID‐19: The role of instrumental support and coaching leadership as moderators

“…Third, while instrumental support and coaching leadership are obligatory organizational supports, other supports are also potentially essential in terms of how support sustains mental health of employees. Future scholars may explore additional organizational and managerial supports, that is, cognitive‐behavioural training, financial and nonfinancial rewards, empathetic leadership and self‐care programmes (Gabriel & Aguinis, 2022; Jiang et al, 2022; Labrague, 2021; Mastracci & Adams, 2019; Ollis & Shanahan, 2022), those are likely to control negative consequences of emotional labour and stress amid environmental disruption. Besides, researchers may also shed light on ways to improve supervisor's coaching leadership in health care setting.…”

“…(Cox & Jackson, 2010)’. Likewise, coaching has been multifariously described as a practice for empowering employees (Gazelle et al, 2015), giving guidance, encouraging in the crisis and supporting to improve performance (Grant et al, 2017; Ollis & Shanahan, 2022; Peláez Zuberbuhler et al, 2020). Effective coaching tackles peripheral change and development contemporarily with internal change and development (Hagen, 2012).…”

“…Followed by past studies, there can be different organizational forms of support (Grant et al, 2017; Hershkovich et al, 2016; Ollis & Shanahan, 2022); authors emphasize on instrumental support and coaching leadership to be distinctive approaches that could be used to handle emotional exhaustion amid environmental disruptions. Instrumental support signifies to the ‘organization's willingness to deliver material (i.e., PPE kit) and psychological resources (social distancing, disinfected wards) intended to build a person's capability to tackle demanding situation (Amason et al, 1999; Labrague, 2021)’, and coaching is a leadership tool that ‘helps employees to level‐up their capability to deal with change and provide them assistance in meeting the job demands (Theeboom et al, 2014)’.…”

“…Followed by past studies, there can be different organizational forms of support (Grant et al, 2017;Hershkovich et al, 2016;Ollis & Shanahan, 2022); authors emphasize on instrumental support and coaching leadership to be distinctive approaches that could be used to handle emotional exhaustion amid environmental disruptions.…”