The study team conducted an online survey for more than 4,300health care employees at the University Hospitals Bonn, Erlangen, Ulm, Dresden, and Cologne, and many other hospitals from April to July last year (during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic) in Germany.
‘The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a severe strain among health care professionals. The study derives a conclusion on how people should handle crises like the Covid-19 pandemic through protective factors that help cope up with this strain.’
The information was also collected on three possible “resilience factors”, that protect against mental consequences of stress – social support, religiosity, and sense of coherence(perceived meaning and challenges of life).
Mental Strain and Measures
It was found that more than 20% of the respondents in each case stated that they had symptoms of depression or anxiety to an extent requiring treatment. The exact scenario of these people before the pandemic was unknown.
“However, the values found are higher than in earlier studies among physicians and nursing staff, so we can assume there has been an increase during the pandemic. While, during normal times, physicians and nurses display higher mental strain than the rest of the population, they actually had lower anxiety values during the pandemic in our survey. This naturally makes us curious about possible protective factors,” says Prof. Dr. Franziska Geiser, Director of the Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at University Hospital Bonn.
The study states that the greatest mental consequences of the pandemic were reported among the medical technical assistants. However the exact cause was unknown. Even pastoral workers stated an increase in stress due to the pandemic, but comparatively had a better-pronounced sense of coherence and fewest symptoms of anxiety and depression.
However, the study doesn’t derive any premature conclusions from the findings. It rather highlights the important conclusions on how people should handle crises like the Covid-19 pandemic in the future.
“The more complex the situation, the better we need to communicate. Uncertainties and also contradictions, such as with regard to protective measures or treatment processes, are unavoidable in a new situation like the pandemic. The better it is explained to employees why this is the case and the more personal meaning they experience in their work, the better they can handle it. Timely information is therefore essential. It is important to enter into a dialogue that also allows for questions and responses to concerns,” says Geiser.
Source: Medindia
