Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic in early 2020. Due to the rapid spread of the virus and limited availability of effective treatments, health and social care systems worldwide quickly became overwhelmed. Such stressful circumstances are likely to have negative impacts on health and social care workers’ wellbeing. The current study examined the relationship between coping strategies and wellbeing and quality of working life in nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, social care workers and social workers who worked in health and social care in the UK during its first wave of COVID-19. Data were collected using an anonymous online survey (N = 3425), and regression analyses were used to examine the associations of coping strategies and demographic characteristics with staff wellbeing and quality of working life. The results showed that positive coping strategies, particularly active coping and help-seeking, were associated with higher wellbeing and better quality of working life. Negative coping strategies, such as avoidance, were risk factors for low wellbeing and worse quality of working life. The results point to the importance of organizational and management support during stressful times, which could include psycho-education and training about active coping and might take the form of workshops designed to equip staff with better coping skills.
Highlights
The current study aimed to examine the relationship between coping strategies, wellbeing and the quality of working life in nurses, midwives, allied health professionals (AHPs), social care workers, and social workers who were working in health and social care in the UK during its first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (May–July 2020)
The data for this study come from an ongoing program of research entitled ‘Health and social care workers’ quality of working life and coping while working during the COVID-19 pandemic’, which was launched in May 2020 with the first in a series of three cross-sectional surveys
The current study examined coping strategies and demographic characteristics as risk and protective factors of the wellbeing and quality of working life in nurses, midwives, AHPs, social care workers, and social workers working in health and social care in the UK during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020, placed substantial strain on health and social care systems worldwide. The rapid spread of the virus, compounded by a limited range of effective treatments, meant that health and care systems struggled to cope [1]. It quickly became evident that the negative impact of COVID-19 was felt not just at the organizational level, and at the individual level, as studies of the mental health and wellbeing of health and social care staff started emerging.
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