Abstract
Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are among those most affected by the COVID-19 health emergency, with many presenting symptoms of anxiety and depression. Research shows that one of the factors involved in mitigating the impact of stressful situations is the use of cognitive emotional regulation mechanisms. The aims of this study were (a) to describe the functional and dysfunctional cognitive emotional regulation mechanisms (FRMs and DRMs) by gender, (b) to screen the main group of healthcare professionals who are candidates to receive psychological assistance based on FRMs and DRMs, and (c) to determine the HCP profile of candidates for psychological assistance. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. Data were obtained from an adhoc questionnaire—the Cognitive Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-18), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), and the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). The representative sample comprised 1452 HCPs. The results revealed significant differences between men and women in the use of DRMs. Women showed a higher use of catastrophizing (≤0.001) and rumination (0.008). The screening procedure detected that 7.5% (109 cases) of the HCPs were candidates to receive psychological support. According to the results of this study, age group (30–39 years old), professional activity (being a nurse or nursing assistant), and having psychological symptoms of anxiety and depression are variables that independently increase the probability of requiring psychological assistance. The gender variable was not found to be an independent factor when it comes to receiving psychological support. In conclusion, it is necessary to consider the influence of cognitive emotional regulation strategies employed by HCPs in the screening of candidates for psychological assistance and design effective interventions to reverse the emotional distress caused by COVID-19.
Highlights
Description of Cognitive Emotional Regulation Mechanisms Used by Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) in Relation to the Gender Variable
Considering the total sample (N = 1452), the results showed that acceptance received the highest score in functional regulation mechanisms (FRMs), while rumination was higher in dysfunctional cognitive emotional regulation mechanisms (DRMs)
Significant differences were found by the gender variable, with females scoring significantly higher than males in acceptance (FRMs), rumination, and catastrophizing (DRMs)
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. A year and a half later, at the end of October 2021, over 242 million cases of coronavirus have been recorded around the world, leading to 4.9 million deaths. 4.9 million cases and 87,082 deaths have been reported in Spain [1]. Previous studies had shown that one of the groups most affected by the COVID19 health emergency is that of healthcare professionals (HCPs) [2,3,4,5,6]. Social, organizational, and/or work-related factors play a crucial role in the exacerbation or moderation of the psychological impact that such an epidemic can have on the mental health of HCPs [6,7,8,9,10,11]
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