Abstract
This narrative review aims to summarize initiatives developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to support healthcare workers’ emotional well-being within the context of a pre-existing framework of occupational mental health guidelines. This occupational mental health framework integrates principles from multiple disciplines to optimize prevention and management of mental health issues among employees. We conducted an online search on Medline/PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase for studies that reported on design or execution of medical institution-based interventions, aiming to support healthcare worker mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inclusion criteria was intentionally broad in order to incorporate as many types of interventions at varying stages of development or evaluation. We included 31 studies in our review that reported on newly designed psychological support interventions for healthcare workers (HCW) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that most programs commonly supported HCW mental health through offering one or more of the following initiatives: expanded basic need resources/services, additional workplace training programs that bolstered professional preparedness while also indirectly boosting HCW emotional health, and/or expanded psychological support programs, such as peer support programs, psychoeducational or counseling services. Most programs, however, did not consider methods to ensure program longevity or sustainability. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the acuity of HCW mental health issues and is likely to leave long lasting mental health strains among HCW. This pandemic is a critical point in time to catalyze much needed progress in reducing stigma and expanding HCW mental health care access.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an unprecedented global health crisis
We excluded all mental health interventions that were not designed during the COVID-19 pandemic and studies that were not published in English
Programs that address health care workers (HCW) basic needs could be classified as “harm prevention” initiatives, since they seek to decrease the incidence of work-related mental health problems through modifying the workplace environment to reduce work-related risk factors, along with personal risk factors that extend beyond the workplace proper [8]
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an unprecedented global health crisis. In the face of volatility and uncertainty, health care workers (HCW) continue to provide care under physically and emotionally stressful conditions that continue to evolve in parallel with the changing landscape of the pandemic itself. Previous reviews have evaluated and/or compared the efficacy and utility of select programs developed during the COVID-19 pandemic and previous epidemics [4,5,6,7]; these reviews evaluate the quantitative data available, which are limited and based on small cohorts studied for short periods of time. This narrative review, to our knowledge, adopts a unique lens, which evaluates a broad body of literature published on HCW mental health interventions designed in response to COVID-19
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