#0089 Essential, not peripheral: Addressing health care workers’ mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic
Many Healthcare Workers Need Treatment for Pandemic-Related Mental Health Concerns
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stressful and unpleasant experience for almost everyone, but it has been especially distressing for healthcare workers, who have had to contend with both witnessing the human toll of the infection and living with the fear of contracting the virus themselves and potentially spreading it to loved ones.
In an opinion piece recently published in the Journal of Occupational Health, we discuss the mental health effects of the pandemic for healthcare workers, describe the results of our own survey research into the subject, and propose ways in which hospital administrators can help their workers access the mental health support that they need.
International studies have yielded evidence of the pandemic severely affecting the mental health of frontline clinical workers. For example, studies from China have found high rates of depression, anxiety, and insomnia among clinicians exposed to COVID-19 patients, and a study of healthcare workers in Italy found that approximately half experienced posttraumatic stress symptoms.
To explore how the pandemic will affect demand for mental health services among healthcare workers in the United States, we surveyed 1,366 US residents, including healthcare workers and members of the general public. Our data indicated that healthcare workers were more likely to be planning to seek treatment for pandemic-related mental health issues than members of the general public were. This difference between healthcare workers and the general public was especially pronounced in analyses focused on people who had sought mental health treatment prior to the pandemic.
Given the considerable stress that the pandemic has caused for healthcare workers, many hospitals are seeking ways to help connect their staff with the psychological support services that they may need in the coming postpandemic era. Our survey findings underscore the importance of such services for healthcare workers with preexisting mental health concerns, but we must note that targeted appeals create a risk of compromising on the important principle of confidentiality in mental health services. We therefore recommend that hospital administrators widely disseminate information about mental health resources to ensure that such information reaches those who need it.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1348-9585.12169
Title of the paper:
Essential, not peripheral: Addressing health care workers’ mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors:
Christi J. Guerrini, Eric A. Storch, and Amy L. McGuire
