Factors Affecting Perceived Work Environment, Wellbeing, and Coping Styles: A Comparison between Physicians and Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: An international comparison of gender-related home and work-related responsibilities, and social support

PURPOSE  : To assess gender differences in COVID-19 related changes in home and work responsibilities longitudinally, and determine whether these differences, together with other potential risk and protective factors, are associated with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology.

METHOD

Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD were measured using an online survey instrument, between May 2020 and April 2021, in four waves completed at 3-monthly intervals. Analyses were based on data from the COvid MEntal healTh (COMET) survey which investigated the mental health effects of the COVID-19 outbreak spanning 13 countries on five continents in N = 7,909 participants.

RESULTS

From the first to the last wave, women reported a greater increase in home and work responsibilities, and had higher depression, anxiety and PTSD scores compared to men. Women who reported a reduction in income due to the pandemic had higher depression scores. Working harder and experiencing a reduction in income were also associated with higher anxiety scores in women but not in men. Women were more likely to score above the cut-off for depression (32.5% vs 23.6%, p < .001), anxiety (21.2% vs 14.4%, p < .001) and PTSD (21.2% vs 14.4%, p < .001) than men during the first wave. Stronger reliance on socially supported coping mechanisms was a risk factor for depression, anxiety and PTSD in men and women.

CONCLUSION

Women were more likely to report mental health problems which may be related to the gender disproportionate increase in home and work responsibilities but not necessarily due to COVID-19 stressors.

How do they cope? A national cross-sectional study of coping in hospital doctors in Ireland

OBJECTIVES

To measure coping strategies and associated psychological distress, burnout and work ability in hospital doctors in Ireland.

DESIGN

National cross-sectional study of randomised sample of trainee and consultant hospital doctors.

SETTING

Irish publicly funded hospitals and residential institutions.

PARTICIPANTS

1749 doctors returned surveys (55% response rate).

OUTCOME MEASURES

Dependent variables were psychological distress (measured using 12-item General Health Questionnaire), burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory) and work ability (single-item measure). Adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies (Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced) were covariates.

RESULTS

The coping mechanism most frequently reported by this cohort was the adaptive strategy of active planning. Increased mean hours worked (MHW) (OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.03), a low Work Ability Score (OR 3.23; 95% CI 2.47 to 4.23) and maladaptive coping strategies (OR 1.26; 95% CI 1.22 to 1.31) were significantly associated with psychological distress. Adaptive coping was associated with decreased psychological distress (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.97 to 1.00). Increased MHW (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.97 to 0.99), insufficient work ability (OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.48 to 0.80) and maladaptive coping (OR 0.87; 95% CI 0.85 to 0.89) were significantly associated with burnout. Increased MHW (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.98 to 1.00) and maladaptive coping (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.92) were significantly associated with insufficient work ability.

CONCLUSIONS

Adaptive coping is associated with decreased psychological distress but does not mitigate the effect of increased work hours, which are associated with burnout, distress and insufficient work ability, regardless of a doctor's coping style. The burden of psychological distress on doctors cannot be mitigated meaningfully unless workplace factors are addressed.

Occupational stress, respect, and the need for psychological counselling in Chinese nurses: a nationwide cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to explore occupational stress, perceived respect, and the need for psychological counselling among nurses in China.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a nationwide cross-sectional study.

METHODS

Chinese nurses from 311 cities were randomly selected through a simple random sampling method. Occupational stress, perceived respect, and psychological counselling need were assessed using an online questionnaire validated by experts. The underlying associated factors were analysed using multiple logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

We collected and analysed 51,406 valid online questionnaires. Family factors and low income were the most commonly cited sources of occupational stress, and 91.9% and 80.0% of nurses, respectively, perceived that individuals in society and patients did not give adequate respect. Furthermore, 75.5% and 79.7%, respectively, believed they were not respected by clinical managers and doctors. As a result, 64.7% nurses believed they had a moderate or high need for psychological counselling. However, 80.7% indicated that receiving adequate respect could decrease the need for stress-related psychological counselling. Indeed, multiple logistic regression analyses showed that lower respect perceived by nurses was associated with higher need for psychological counselling, particularly regarding criticism that nurses perceived from nursing managers (a little: odds ratio [OR], 1.597; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.176-2.170; P = 0.003; moderately: OR, 1.433; 95% CI, 1.180-1.741; P < 0.001) and the difficulty of receiving respect from patients and their families (a little: OR, 1.389; 95% CI, 1.044-1.850; P = 0.024).

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses in China perceive high levels of occupational stress and low levels of respect and often seek psychological counselling.

Salivary Biomarkers Analysis and Neurobehavioral Assessment in Nurses Working Rotation Shifts: A Pilot Study

Currently, about one in five workers is employed in night shift work in Europe. Shift work including nighttime hours is essential in several activities, especially the healthcare sector. Importantly, night working may be associated with the occurrence of sleep disorders or work-related stress, both potentially augmenting the risk of errors and accidents at work. This study aims to examine the presence of neurobehavioral alterations that can be a consequence of shift working and concurrent misalignment of the sleep times and circadian rhythms. Nurses (n = 102) employed at a University Hospital located in North-Eastern Sicily, Italy, voluntarily participated in this pilot study. During medical surveillance, morning and evening salivary samples were collected, and seven psychodiagnostics questionnaires were administered to all the subjects. On one hand, the salivary levels of stress-related biomarkers (cortisol and alpha-amylase) and a circadian biomarker (melatonin) were evaluated. On the other hand, several neurobehavioral features were assessed, including depression, anxiety, work-related, and sleep issues. Interestingly, a positive relationship between salivary morning cortisol and depression scale, as well as a negative relationship between salivary morning alpha-amylase and work ability scale, were observed. Based on these results, the integration of subjective questionnaire outcomes and objective salivary biomarker quantification can help to identify workers with increased susceptibility to developing neurobehavioral alterations. This approach may contribute to ameliorating preventive strategies towards sensitive categories, such as nurses working rotation shifts.

Onboarding Handbook: An Indispensable Tool for Onboarding Processes

Onboarding handbooks constitute a very important and powerful tool in the socialization and integration processes of recruits implemented by Human Resources. As companies compete to thrive in global markets, the attraction and retention of employees have been given much attention in recent years. One of the strategies developed by companies to achieve this goal are the so-called Onboarding Handbooks given to newcomers, serving as a means of facilitating workers’ integration into the everyday processes of the company. As a consolidated research area, many HR studies have been developed around these subjects, as these manuals have been proven to be important tools in the socialization process of the former candidate, now entering the organisational culture of a given enterprise. A literature review was developed according to the main variables of the study of Organisational Socialization processes, strategies, and methods, with special emphasis on the onboarding book. To find out if these manuals correspond to the relevant literature of HR, eight of the onboarding handbooks from several public and private organizations have been analysed following the proposed structure of onboarding handbooks presented in the literature review. In addition, purposeful sampling was followed and content analysis on the handbooks was developed. The paper’s contributions are twofold: (a) the authors suggest a complete and up-to-date structure for the contents of onboarding books to be applied by HR managers and (b) compare its structure to several manuals of different enterprises from various sectors of the Portuguese economy. Findings show that the onboarding book remains an important tool and facilitator of organisational integration. Although, the onboarding processes are changing, and even the format of the onboarding books can become different (digital or not), their contents are essential for the socialization of newcomers and a means to organisational culture dissemination as well as containing functional contents such as internal norms and regulations.