The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

Adopting the protection motivation theory and self-determination theory as frameworks, the present study examined whether the mental well-being of health care workers is determined by a combination of COVID-19-related factors (exposure and resources), organizational factors, and individual and attitudinal factors. The present study is based on Eurofound's Living, Working, and COVID-19 survey, and the fieldwork for this survey was performed via uncontrolled convenience sampling throughout June and July 2020 in the 27 European Union countries. This research utilized a subsample of 1824 health sector employees and 11,750 workers in the other service industries. Further, to meet the objectives of this study, different linear regression models are estimated. Despite the close contact of health care workers with COVID-19, we found that the risk of contracting the coronavirus does not explain their poor or high well-being. However, the availability of personal protection equipment and mistrust in the national health system contribute to well-being, along with other organizational (eg, job insecurity) and individual-attitudinal factors (eg, health and life satisfaction). The present study offers various valuable insights for health institutes, organizations, practitioners, and employers to combat COVID-19 and identify the determinants of the mental well-being of health care professionals.