The impact of COVID-19 on nurse alcohol consumption: A qualitative exploration

Coping profiles and their association with vicarious post-traumatic growth among nurses during the three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic

AIMS

This study aimed to examine (a) changes in coping strategies and vicarious post-traumatic growth (VPTG) across three timepoints of the COVID-19 pandemic among nurses; (b) discrete groups of nurses with unique coping profiles and (c) the association of these coping profiles with VPTG across the timepoints.

BACKGROUND

Although literature abounds with the negative mental health consequences of the pandemic among healthcare professionals, much less is known about the positive consequences on nurses, the coping strategies that they use, and how these change over time.

DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional web-based survey at three timepoints during the pandemic.

METHODS

A sample of 429 nurses completed online the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) and the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (COPE) to measure vicarious post-traumatic growth (VPTG) and coping strategies, respectively. The STROBE checklist was used to report the present study.

RESULTS

Significantly higher VPTG scores were observed during the third timepoint. Different coping strategies were employed across the three timepoints. Nurses responded to the pandemic either with an active, an avoidant or a passive coping profile. Significantly higher VPTG levels were reported by the nurses of the active profile compared to those of the passive profile, whereas the difference between active and avoidant profiles was not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Notwithstanding the preponderance of the nurses with the active coping profile in achieving high VPTG, the avoidant copers had more gains (VPTG) than the passive copers, suggesting that doing something to cope with the stressor-let it be trying to avoid it-was better than doing nothing.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

The identification of distinct coping profiles among nurses and their association with VPTG is of particular use to policymakers and practitioners in developing tailored prevention and intervention efforts to help the nurses effectively manage the demands of the pandemic.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No patient or public contribution since the study was exclusively conducted by the authors.

Anger and Aggression in Relation to Psychological Resilience and Alcohol Abuse among Health Professionals during the First Pandemic Wave

Mental health problems, behavior changes, and addictive issues have been consistently documented among healthcare workers during the pandemic. The objective of this study was to investigate the levels of anger and aggression in relation to psychological resilience and alcohol abuse among healthcare workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 120 physicians and 123 nurses completed an online survey of the Dimensions of Anger Reactions-5 (DAR-5), the Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ), the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and the Alcohol Screening questionnaire CAGE which is an acronym for the focus of the questions (Cutting down, Annoyance by criticism, Guilty feeling, and Eye-openers). Demographic and professional data were also recorded. A total of 53 men and 190 women participated in the study. Almost one-third of the participants had a positive score on the DAR-5 scale and one out of ten respondents presented with current problematic alcohol use. Male participants demonstrated lower scores on the DAR-5 scale compared to females. Individuals with current problematic alcohol use displayed higher scores on the BAQ compared to those without alcohol use disorders. Regression analysis revealed that 16.4% of the variance in the BAQ scores can be attributed to scores on the DAR-5, 5.9% to the BRS scores, 2.1% to the CAGE scores, 1.7% to gender, and 1.2% to years of work experience. Mediation analysis highlighted the role of psychological resilience as a negative mediator in the DAR-5 and BAQ relationship. Professional experience and alcohol abuse emerged as positive and negative risk factors contributing to aggression and psychological resilience. The findings hold practical implications for implementing interventions to strengthen resilience in order to compensate for aggressive tendencies and discourage addictive issues.

Psychosocial ergonomics of the workplace of medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in three risk's dimensions: working hours, violence and the use of psychoactive drugs-a prospective pilot study

Introduction

Workplace ergonomics should also be considered in the context of psychosocial factors affecting the worker, which have a real impact on occupational risk. The present study examined psychosocial risk factors in medical personnel in three domains: working hours, violence and substance abuse.

Methods

The purpose of the present study is to assess the current state of psychosocial ergonomics of medical personnels by measuring occupational risks in the domains of: working hours, violence and psychoactive substance abuse. The survey is consisted of two parts: socio-demographic information of participants and participants' assements of psychosocial risk factors.

Results

In more than half of the respondents (52%), increased risk was identified in the domain of working hours. Nearly half of the respondents (49.6%) have an identified high risk in the domain of violence, and more than half of the respondents (52%) are at high risk in the domain of psychoactive substance abuse.

Discussion

Our findings show that the present psychosocial ergonomics of the Polish health system must be improved. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a compelling test to assess the current state. Our findings highlighted the fact that HCWs often worked overtime and that many cases of workplace violence and substance abuse were reported.

Mental health and wellbeing of health and aged care workers in Australia, May 2021 - June 2022: a longitudinal cohort study

OBJECTIVES

To assess the mental health and wellbeing of health and aged care workers in Australia during the second and third years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, overall and by occupation group.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS

Longitudinal cohort study of health and aged care workers (ambulance, hospitals, primary care, residential aged care) in Victoria: May-July 2021 (survey 1), October-December 2021 (survey 2), and May-June 2022 (survey 3).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Proportions of respondents (adjusted for age, gender, socio-economic status) reporting moderate to severe symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, PHQ-9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, GAD-7), or post-traumatic stress (Impact of Event Scale-6, IES-6), burnout (abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory, aMBI), or high optimism (10-point visual analogue scale); mean scores (adjusted for age, gender, socio-economic status) for wellbeing (Personal Wellbeing Index-Adult, PWI-A) and resilience (Connor Davidson Resilience Scale 2, CD-RISC-2).

RESULTS

A total of 1667 people responded to at least one survey (survey 1, 989; survey 2, 1153; survey 3, 993; response rate, 3.3%). Overall, 1211 survey responses were from women (72.6%); most respondents were hospital workers (1289, 77.3%) or ambulance staff (315, 18.9%). The adjusted proportions of respondents who reported moderate to severe symptoms of depression (survey 1, 16.4%; survey 2, 22.6%; survey 3, 19.2%), anxiety (survey 1, 8.8%; survey 2, 16.0%; survey 3, 11.0%), or post-traumatic stress (survey 1, 14.6%; survey 2, 35.1%; survey 3, 14.9%) were each largest for survey 2. The adjusted proportions of participants who reported moderate to severe symptoms of burnout were higher in surveys 2 and 3 than in survey 1, and the proportions who reported high optimism were smaller in surveys 2 and 3 than in survey 1. Adjusted mean scores for wellbeing and resilience were similar at surveys 2 and 3 and lower than at survey 1. The magnitude but not the patterns of change differed by occupation group.

CONCLUSION

Burnout was more frequently reported and mean wellbeing and resilience scores were lower in mid-2022 than in mid-2021 for Victorian health and aged care workers who participated in our study. Evidence-based mental health and wellbeing programs for workers in health care organisations are needed.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12621000533897 (observational study; retrospective).

Compassion Fatigue and Perceived Social Support among Polish Nurses

BACKGROUND

Social support has a vital role in preventing traumatic stress in nurses. Nurses are regularly exposed to contact with violence, suffering, and death. The situation worsened during the pandemic because they were also faced with the possibility of infection SARS-CoV-2 and death from COVID-19. Many nurses are faced with increased pressure, stress, and other adverse effects on their mental health. The study aimed to measure the relationship between compassion fatigue and perceived social support in polish nurses.

METHODS

The study was conducted on 862 professionally active nurses in Poland using the CAWI method (Computer-Assisted Web Interview). The professional Quality of Life scale (ProQOL) and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used for collecting the data. StatSoft, Inc. (2014) was used for data analysis. For comparisons between the groups: Mann-Whitney U test, ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis test, and multiple comparisons (post-hoc). The relationships between variables were tested using Spearman's rho, Tau Kendall, and the chi-square test.

RESULTS

The research showed the presence of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout in the group of Polish hospital nurses. A higher level of perceived social support was associated with lower compassion fatigue (r = -0.35; p < 0.001). A higher level of social support was associated with higher job satisfaction (r = 0.40; p < 0.001). The study also found that a higher level of social support was associated with a lower risk of burnout (r = -0.41; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Preventing compassion fatigue and burnout should be a priority for healthcare managers. Notably, an essential predictor of compassion fatigue is that Polish nurses often work overtime. It is necessary to pay more attention to the crucial role of social support in preventing compassion fatigue and burnout.