Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic has necessitated extraordinary human resilience in order to preserve and prolong life and social order. Risks to health and even life are being confronted by workers in health and social care, as well as those in roles previously never defined as “frontline,” such as individuals working in community supply chain sectors. The strategy adopted by the United Kingdom (UK) government in facing the challenges of the pandemic was markedly different from other countries. The present study set out to examine what variables were associated with resilience, burnout, and wellbeing in all sectors of frontline workers, and whether or not these differed between the UK and Republic of Ireland (RoI). Individuals were eligible if they were a frontline worker (in health and social care, community supply chain, or other emergency services) in the UK or RoI during the pandemic. Part of a larger, longitudinal study, the participants completed an online survey to assess various aspects of their daily and working lives, along with their attitudes toward their government’s handling of the crisis, and measurement of psychological variables associated with heroism (altruism, meaning in life, and resilient coping). A total of 1,305 participants (N = 869, 66.6% from the UK) provided sufficient data for analysis. UK-based workers reported lower wellbeing than the RoI-based participants. In multivariate models, both psychological and pandemic-related variables were associated with levels of resilience, burnout, and wellbeing in these workers, but which pandemic-related variables were associated with outcomes differed depending on the country. The judgment of lower timeliness in their government’s response to the pandemic appeared to be a key driver of each outcome for the UK-based frontline workers. These findings provide initial evidence that the different strategies adopted by each country may be associated with the overall wellbeing of frontline workers, with higher detriment observed in the UK. The judgment of the relatively slow response of the UK government to instigate their pandemic measures appears to be associated with lower resilience, higher burnout, and lower wellbeing in frontline workers in the UK.
Highlights
Keeping economies and societies afloat during crisis is a delicate balance between urging caution and responsibility, and deterring panic
The present study set out to understand what factors may be associated with the psychological welfare in a broad profile of frontline workers, beyond those in healthcare, during the Covid-19 pandemic
We sought to understand whether government policy in dealing with the pandemic may have been associated with these outcomes by comparing frontline workers from the United Kingdom (UK) and Republic of Ireland (RoI)
Summary
Keeping economies and societies afloat during crisis is a delicate balance between urging caution and responsibility, and deterring panic. The leader (Taoiseach) of the Republic of Ireland (RoI) government, Dr Leo Varadkar, announced the immediate closure of schools, colleges, and universities, and the limiting of public gatherings to those under 100 attendees in the case of indoor events, and under 500 in the case of outdoor events At this point in RoI, the approximate number of infections was 70, with one recorded death. It is worth noting that on 5th May 2020, the death toll in the UK (29,427; 43.34/100,000) became the highest in Europe, and the second highest in the world at that point in time in the pandemic Both countries have adopted markedly different public health strategies in relation to managing the outbreak of the disease, with the UK adopting an approach many have likened to a “herd immunity” strategy (Jetten et al, 2020), whereas the RoI adopted a more conservative approach more in line with WHO guidance. These strategic differences provide interesting comparative contexts for examining the psychological impact of working in a frontline capacity during the Covid-19 crisis
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