My Colleague and I: Contribution of Coworker Support and Self-compassion to Stress Among Health Workers During Health Crises

Abstract

The devastating Covid-19 pandemic forced health workers to adapt quickly to uncertain circumstances, increasing moral burden, excessive workload, and limited rest time. Many adversities in the hospital setting may increase stress levels due to prolonged and uncertain pandemics. Coworker support and self-compassion are two protective factors that may help health workers to manage stress during the pandemic. This study examined the contribution of coworker support and self-compassion to stress among health workers during the pandemic. A quantitative correlational study using simple random sampling to select samples from a list of referral hospitals for Covid-19 in the Malang area. One hundred seventeen health workers from six randomly selected referral hospitals for Covid-19 completed three instruments: the stress subscale of Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21), Coworker Support Scale, and Self- Compassion Scale (SWD) adapted to the Indonesian population. The linear regression showed that only self-compassion predicted stress levels among health workers. In contrast, coworker support and self-compassion did not contribute simultaneously to the stress levels of health workers during the pandemic. Therefore, maintaining self-compassion is vital to coping with stress while providing adequate health care during health crises.
 Keywords: coworker support, health worker, self-compassion, stress