Frontline healthcare workers' mental health and wellbeing during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of interviews and social media data.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the fractures of healthcare systems around the world and continues to have a significant impact, particularly in relation to the healthcare workforce. Frontline staff have been exposed to unprecedented strain and delivering care during the pandemic has impacted their safety, mental health and wellbeing. The aim of this paper was to explore the experiences of Health Care Workers (HCWs) delivering care in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand their wellbeing needs, experiences and strategies used to maintain wellbeing (at individual and organizational levels). We analysed 94 telephone interviews with HCWs and 2000 tweets about HCWs mental health during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results were grouped under six themes: redeployment, clinical work, and sense of duty; wellbeing support and HCW's coping strategies; negative mental health effects; organisational support; social network and support; and public and government support. These findings demonstrate a need for open conversations, where staff wellbeing needs and the strategies they adopted can be shared and encouraged, rather than implementing solely top-down psychological interventions. At the macro level, findings also highlighted the impact on HCW's wellbeing of public and government support, as well as the need for ensuring protection through PPE, testing, and/or vaccines for frontline workers.