A pre/post analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychosocial work environment and recovery among healthcare workers in a large university hospital in Sweden

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. Worldwide, over 700,000 people die by suicide each year. Healthcare workers are more vulnerable to suicide risk factors than the general population. The global COVID-19 pandemic presents additional workplace and health concerns that relate to suicide risk factors in healthcare workers. It is important to recognise suicide risk factors in healthcare workers and to implement strategies to reduce these risk factors. This study describes the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on risk factors for suicide in healthcare workers and identifies evidence-based strategies and resources to reduce suicide risk factors in healthcare workers. The authors conducted a thematic analysis and narrative review of the literature. Using health science databases, the authors searched the literature, selected and analyzed studies, identified themes, synthesised findings and created a narrative review. The STROBE checklist was used in this study. Two themes were identified (1) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on work-related suicide risk factors in healthcare workers; (2) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health-related suicide risk factors in healthcare workers. The pandemic has affected suicide risk factors in healthcare workers. Many studies discussed evidence-based strategies and resources that can be used to reduce suicide risk factors. The global COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted suicide risk factors in healthcare workers. It is time for individuals and healthcare delivery systems to implement suicide risk prevention strategies to protect healthcare workers now and in the future. This review increases awareness of the pandemic's impact on healthcare workers' risk factors for suicide and identifies evidence-based suicide risk prevention strategies and resources for healthcare workers. Library services supported this research by generating search strategies and providing resources and tools.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Eating Disorders: A Wake-Up Call for the Future of Eating Disorders Among Adolescents and Young Adults

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has shown a significant impact on the psychological well-being of health care workers. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health of health care workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the months of November and December, 283 health care workers completed a survey containing measures of depression, anxiety and stress (using Depression Anxiety and Stress-21 scale [DASS-21]) and questions regarding potential predictors such as the role of COVID-19 perception, availability of mental health support and work-related factors. Pearson X2 test revealed factors associated with the presence of significant psychiatric symptoms.ResultAmong the participants, 17.3% screened positive for depression, 26.2% for anxiety and 17.3% for stress. Nurses reported significantly more depression, anxiety and stress than doctors. Those who received mental health support reported significantly lesser depression, anxiety and stress. Those who felt that quality of life was heavily impacted due to COVID-19 reported significantly high depression, anxiety and stress.ConclusionsPoor psychological well-being was prevalent in health care workers; however, mental health measures have been shown to significantly reduce the mental health burden in health care workers.

PurposeThis paper presents a cross-sectional study that assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural migrants in Bihar. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the overall impact of the pandemic on migrants and examine their livelihoods, with a focus on identifying measures that can mitigate the economic consequences.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a telephonic survey to collect primary data from 419 respondents. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, and three indices were constructed: fear and worries, trust and prevention.FindingsThe findings provide insights into the psychological well-being of migrant workers and highlight the challenges they face in sustaining their livelihoods amidst the pandemic. This study concludes by suggesting potential measures to alleviate the economic impact and enhance the resilience of this vulnerable population.Research limitations/implicationsThis study may be limited by the representativeness of the sample as well as the potential for social desirability bias. The study may also be limited by the reliability and validity of the measures used to capture the fear and worries, trust and prevention indices.Originality/valueNumerous studies have examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural migrants. However, there are limited studies that estimate the impact of the proposed study based on the challenges faced by rural migrants in Bihar during the pandemic.

A survey of pharmacists' perception of the work environment and patient safety in community pharmacies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background Since the emergence of the pandemic, healthcare workers have been subjected to devastating psychological burden at all levels of healthcare. Depression, anxiety, and stress were greatly encountered in the era of the pandemic. Moreover, healthcare workers reported escalating levels of burnout syndrome compared to levels reported in the pre-pandemic era. They are exposed to multiple work-related stressors that have been exhausting to their mental and psychological well-being. The aim of the current study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological well-being of healthcare workers. Methods A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 471 healthcare workers (245 front-line and 226 second-line healthcare workers) recruited from ten governmental hospitals. Data was collected using self-administered structured questionnaire, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 Items (DASS-21) and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). Results Symptoms suggestive of depression, anxiety, and stress were reported by 72.6%, 31.4%, and 18.6% of studied healthcare workers, respectively. Front-line healthcare workers had significantly higher mean anxiety and stress scores compared to second-line ones. Burnout syndrome was reported by 86.4% of the study subjects, with statistically significant differences between front-line and second-line healthcare workers. The most commonly adopted organizational interventions against work-related stressors were increased workforce (41.6%), frequent staff meetings (32.3%), shifts rescheduling (31.4%), frequent breaks during the working day (29.1%), and staff training (16.8%). As for individually adopted interventions, following strict protective measures (63.5%), gaining more knowledge about COVID-19 (54.1%), avoiding media news (44.8%), and relaxation activities such as prayers, music, and meditation (37.2%) were the most commonly adopted interventions.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer incidence and mortality

The spread of the COVID-19 virus in Indonesia has caused changes in all aspects of life that affect family situations, especially families with children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to obtain information about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family interactions with children with disabilities. A sampling of 361 families with visually impaired children from five cities in West Java using cluster sampling. They responded to questionnaires about family communication, parenting roles, and changes in family activities. The results show that most families of children with disabilities are involved in supportive contact with advice, communication that includes feelings, communication that adjusts attitudes and provides solutions. Parents' philosophy in parenting is mainly related to resolving difficulties, rules and compliance, maintaining cohesiveness, building trust, avoiding conflict, and establishing physical closeness. The impact of the pandemic was experienced by 82% of families in changes in physical and emotional conditions and 75.9% changes in routine activities. The results of correlation analysis showed that family communication was negatively related to changes in family social activities (p<.001) and physical and emotional changes (p<.01). It is recommended that family communication management increase family resilience in caring for children with disabilities during the pandemic.

Background Pandemic of COVID-19 had strong impact on young people in high education whose life plans, education prospects and personal networks were threatened. Based on theoretical framework of differential consequences of catastrophic events for less privileged groups, we explore the impact of pandemic (IP) on genders in student communities. Methods The C19 ISWS survey was conducted in spring 2020 by web-survey method among students of Russian universities (2738 cases). IP was measured in five domains: 1) socio-economic: subjective evaluation of economic wellbeing before and during the pandemic; 2) psychological (Depression Scale CES D8); 3) social ties: change in frequency of contact with family and friends, intensity of contacts in hours per day; 4) physical health (experience of COVID symptoms); 5) academic workload in hours before and during pandemic. ANOVA analysis was used to investigate strength of impact on gender groups after controlling for other factors (age, city, grade). Results Change of financial wellbeing experienced 39% of students with 4% significant difference between male and female students. Male and females had different mental reaction to COVID on few aspects - anxiousness (13 points difference), apathy (12 points), restlessness (9 points) and general depression (7 points), but not on social aspects as loneliness and isolation. IP was not differential for health (22% in average experienced the symptoms of COVID), academic workload (decreased hours per day on 5% for both genders) and social ties (strong decrease in contacts with friends, small decrease in contacts with family but similar by genders). Conclusions IP is strong and differential by gender for socio-economic and socio-psychological wellbeing, but similar for social communication and social ties, health and academic workload. These results may serve as a basis for forming more effective communication strategies and social support to mitigate IP for male and female students.

The aim of this study was to ascertain the level of occupational stress before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, how it changed and its association with health outcomes of hospital workers in the Recôncavo of Bahia, Brazil. A longitudinal study was conducted with 218 hospital workers over 18 years old. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for collecting sociodemographic, occupational, lifestyle, anthropometric and health data. The main exposures were occupational stress, assessed through Job Content Questionnaire and classified according to the Demand-Control Model and reported shift work. Health outcomes considered were nutritional status assessed by BMI, waist circumference and body fat percentage, health self-perception and cardiovascular risk factors. We used McNemar χ2 or Wilcoxon tests to compare the levels of exposure and outcome variables before and during the pandemic, and OR to evaluate associations between changes in occupational stress and shift work with health outcomes. During the pandemic, participants reported increased occupational stress and shift work and lower self-perceived health and had higher BMI and cardiovascular risk factors, compared with before the pandemic. No association was observed between change in occupational stress and health outcomes. However, increased amount of shift work was related to increased BMI in the overall sample (OR 3·79, 95 % CI (1·40, 10·30)) and in health workers (OR 11·56; 95 % CI (2·57, 52·00)). These findings support calls to strengthen labour policies to ensure adequate working conditions for hospital workers in context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Global Call for Action to Prioritize Healthcare Worker Suicide Prevention During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond.

COVID-19 pandemic had an important impact in mental health across all countries and populations. However, health care professionals, particularly those in the front line have been subjected to increased levels of stress, workload, deterioration of work environment and working conditions while potentially being afraid of contracting the infection themselves or infecting love ones due to the higher risk of contagion when dealing with infected patients. Some studies have stressed out this impact showing increased levels of burnout, depression, hopelessness, stress and post-traumatic stress in all physicians however, the impact of the pandemic may have been different depending on the specialty. We intended to study the impact of COVID-19 pandemic for doctors working at general hospitals and liaison psychiatrists dealing with COVID-19 patients in Europe. We developed and applied online questionnaires to physicians working at general hospitals and psychiatrists working at liaison services, in different European countries (Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Croatia), in order to determine what were their working conditions and it they reported mental health symptoms during the pandemic. This questionnaire included demographic data, questions about working conditions when dealing with general and COVID patients and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS). It was distributed thought email and social media platforms used by doctors. This work has been approved by each local Ethics committee and all participants signed an informed consent.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

The environmentally sound invention (ESI) is a "bridge" between environmental sound technologies (ESTs) and green productions. This study investigates the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on ESI efficiency using a multi-methods model in three stages. The ESI efficiency is measured using the Slack-Based Measure (SBM) method in the first stage. By excluding the environmental effect of the pandemic on each province using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model's results in the second stage, this study compares the ESI efficiency change with or without the influence of the pandemic in the third stage. The results show that the pandemic can be a "crisis" in the short term, but an "opportunity" in the long term. First, the SBM efficiency results in the first stage show a decrease in the number of the average efficient provinces in which the pandemic is more severe during 2020-2021. Second, results of the spatial Tobit and SFA models provide evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacts the ESI efficiency during 2020, this impact is decreasing in 2021, and this impact has a spatial diffusion effect. Based on these results, this study discussed the theoretical and political implications. This paper enriches the knowledge of ESTs research and development by proposing a three-stage approach with multi-methods to investigate the influence of the pandemic's impact on ESI efficiency.

Introduction: Transfusion systems worldwide have had to face many challenges against the emergence or the re-emergence of numerous infectious diseases. Some of those viruses have posed significant impacts on blood transfusion activities. Several scientific and transfusion experts consider the current COVID-19 pandemic to present a potential risk of reducing and compromising the supply of blood products. Blood establishments had to activate their emergency plans and to propose appropriate response measures. Method: It is an international review where we used key terms search strategy to identify necessary information about: (i) the impact of some previous emergent viruses on the availability and the safety of blood products and (ii) the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the blood transfusion activities worldwide. Additionally, we presented the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Moroccan transfusion system activities and the measures established by the Moroccan National Centre of Blood Transfusion and Hematology (MNCBTH) to ensure management of this health crisis on the availability and the safety of blood products in Morocco. Results: Viruses like Zika, Influenza A (H1N1), Chikungunya, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and Ebola have been of great concern in terms of virulence, modes of transmission, and impact on blood transfusion activities. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the availability of blood products in blood establishments worldwide. In Morocco, the COVID-19 pandemic affected blood collections and caused a significant decrease in the number of blood donors nationally. Data provided from all regional blood transfusion centers and blood banks in Morocco show that the total number of blood donations made in 2020 was 297,841 blood donations nationally compared to 334,510 blood donations made in 2019, with a decrease of 36,669 blood donations. The number of LBP produced in 2020 was 455,805 units compared to 695,974 units produced in 2019, which corresponds to a reduction of 57,654 units. The number of Labile Blood Products (LBP) delivered in 2020 is 455,805 units against 451,736 delivered in 2019, with an increase of 4069 units. The pandemic impacted other activities of the blood transfusion system in Morocco like continuing education programs, meeting activities, technical missions, and the Moroccan plasma removal for the fractionation. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on blood transfusion activities worldwide. The MNCBTH has expressed continued adaptability to ensure proper management of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the availability and safety of blood products in Morocco.

Citation:Li Y, Qin Q, Sun Q, Sanford LD, Vgontzas AN, Tang X. Insomnia and psychological reactions during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. J Clin Sleep Med. 2020;16(8):1417–1418.