The Job Demands and Resources Related to COVID-19 in Predicting Emotional Exhaustion and Secondary Traumatic Stress Among Health Professionals in Spain

Abstract

The current COVID-19 crisis may have an impact on the mental health of professionals working on the frontline, especially healthcare workers due to the increase of occupational psychosocial risks, such as emotional exhaustion and secondary traumatic stress (STS). This study explored job demands and resources during the COVID-19 crisis in predicting emotional exhaustion and STS among health professionals. The present study is a descriptive and correlational cross-sectional design, conducted in different hospitals and health centers in Spain. The sample consisted of 221 health professionals with direct involvement in treating COVID-19. An online survey was created and distributed nationwide from March 20 to April 15 which assessed: sociodemographic and occupational data, fear of contagion, contact with death/suffering, lack of material and human protection resources (MHRP), challenge, emotional exhaustion, and STS. Descriptive findings show high levels of workload, contact with death/suffering, lack of MHPR and challenge, and are moderately high for fear of contagion, emotional exhaustion, and STS. We found an indirect significant effect of lack of MHPR on predicting (1) emotional exhaustion through the workload and (2) on STS through fear of contagion, contact with death/suffering, and workload. To conclude, this study examines the immediate consequences of the crisis on health professionals' well-being in Spain, emphasizing the job demands related to COVID-19 that health professionals are facing, and the resources available in these health contexts. These findings may boost follow-up of this crisis among health professionals to prevent them from long-term consequences.

The Role of Healthcare Professionals’ Passion in Predicting Secondary Traumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth in the Face of COVID-19: A Longitudinal Approach

“…This diminishment could be related to the decrease in the lack of staff and PPE, as previous findings revealed that this lack leads to more fear of contagion [ 49 , 50 ]. Specifically, research carried out in the first wave of COVID-19 in April 2020 revealed that the lack of resources, such as personal resources and PPE, leads to an increase in workload and fear of contagion, and in turn, this is associated with more STS [ 18 ].…”

“…The data collected were part of a bigger project related to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on health professionals [ 18 ]. During the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis (April 2020), an online questionnaire was created in order to assess the job demands, resources, and negative outcomes related to the development of this crisis in healthcare professionals.…”

“…This online questionnaire was created through the Qualtrics online platform and the link was spread nationwide through social networks (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn) and through direct contact with healthcare professionals who previously collaborated with the research team. Thus, the snowball technique was used to quickly spread the link (for a review of the procedure, see [ 18 ]). Then, at the end of the completion of this questionnaire, participants were asked about the possibility of participating in the follow-up of the study at the second phase (T2).…”

“…However, this pandemic not only has caused an increase in job demands for these professionals but also challenges due to the absence or the lack of job resources, for example, lack of staff, as many healthcare professionals were infected by the time that personal protection equipment (PPE) diminished [ 18 , 19 ]. Moreover, the crucial point is that this increase in job demands and the lack of job resources have been maintained over the period of one year [ 20 ].…”

Anxiety, Depression and Risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Health Workers: The Relationship with Burnout during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

“…During this pandemic, burnout was identified among HW and persistent burnout was found to be able to contribute to higher levels of anxiety, acute stress, and depersonalization symptoms [ 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”