Qualitative Investigation into the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers in Japan during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Yasuhiro Kotera,Chie Tsunetoshi,Yoshitaka Nishikawa,Akihiko Ozaki,Tetsuya Tanimoto,Hirotomo Miyatake,Makoto Kosaka

doi:10.3390/ijerph19010568

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of healthcare workers in many countries including Japan. While many survey-based findings have reported the serious state of their wellbeing among healthcare workers, the first-hand experience of the mental health and coping in this population remains to be evaluated. Accordingly, this study aimed to appraise them using constructionist thematic analysis on semi-structured interviews attended by a purposive and snowball sample of 24 healthcare workers in Japan conducted in December 2020–January 2021. Four themes were identified: (1) increased stress and loneliness, (2) reduced coping strategies, (3) communication and acknowledgement as a mental health resource, and (4) understanding of self-care. Participants noted that the characteristics of Japanese work culture such as long hours, collectivism and hatarakigai (i.e., meaning in work) to explain these themes. These findings suggest that robust support at an organizational and individual level, capturing intrinsic values, are particularly important for this key workforce to cope with increased stress and loneliness, leading to better patient care.

Highlights

The mental health of healthcare workers has been negatively impacted by the COVID19 pandemic [1]
There were no established guidelines and experts to consult; healthcare workers were faced with uncertainty, while treating ever-increasing COVID-19 patients
Loneliness was experienced in the workplace, with segmented rooms and limited interactions. These lead to T2 ‘reduced strategies for coping’ that entails no informal gatherings among colleagues, which have been an effective way to connect with colleagues and create a supportive workplace culture

Summary

Introduction

The mental health of healthcare workers has been negatively impacted by the COVID19 pandemic [1]. In the United Kingdom, the rates of depression, anxiety and stress among healthcare workers have quadrupled from pre-COVID-19 to after the first wave, April–May 2020: the pre-COVID prevalence of severe depression (5%), anxiety (8%). Stress (11%) raised to 21%, 36% and 46%, respectively, among healthcare workers [2]. In the United States, nearly half of healthcare workers experienced serious mental health symptoms including suicidal ideation [3]. In Japan, about one-third of healthcare workers experienced burnout [4]. During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers were forced to work in different contexts and roles without sufficient information and guidelines.

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Conclusion