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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: To examine the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and well-being of mental health professionals (MHPs) in the Netherlands and understand their needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study was conducted with...

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Autores principales: van Doesum, Tessa J, Shields-Zeeman, Laura S, Leone, Stephanie S, van Meijel, Berno, Jabbarian, Lea J, van Bon-Martens, Marja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10123850/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37072369
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-062242
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author van Doesum, Tessa J
Shields-Zeeman, Laura S
Leone, Stephanie S
van Meijel, Berno
Jabbarian, Lea J
van Bon-Martens, Marja
author_facet van Doesum, Tessa J
Shields-Zeeman, Laura S
Leone, Stephanie S
van Meijel, Berno
Jabbarian, Lea J
van Bon-Martens, Marja
author_sort van Doesum, Tessa J
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: To examine the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and well-being of mental health professionals (MHPs) in the Netherlands and understand their needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study was conducted with MHPs from the Netherlands from June 2020 to October 2020, consisting of an online survey and three online focus group discussions. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were MHPs from various occupational groups (psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses, developmental education workers, etc). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The online survey included questions about work-related changes due to COVID-19 perceived resilience to stress, changes in lifestyle behaviours and mental health symptoms. The focus group discussions focused mostly on work experiences during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: MHP’s reported an increase in experience workload during the pandemic (mean score 8.04 based on a scale of 1-10) compared to before the pandemic (mean score of 7). During the first wave of the pandemic, 50% of respondents reported increased stress, 32% increased sleeping problems and 24% increased mental health problems. Adverse occupational (eg, increased workload OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.28–2.32), psychological (eg, life satisfaction OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.52–0.75), lifestyle (eg, increased sleep problems OR 2.80, 95% CI 2.07–3.80) and physical factors (decline in physical health OR 3.56, 95% CI 2.61–4.85) were associated with a decline in mental health. Participants expressed significant concern in the focus group discussions about the duration of the pandemic, the high workload, less work-life balance and lack of contact with colleagues. Suggestions to improve working conditions included ensuring clear communication about guidelines and facilitating worker contact and support via peer-to-peer coaching where experiences can be shared. CONCLUSIONS: The current study indicates that MHP experienced a decline in mental health status during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which should be taken into consideration by employers, policymakers and researchers.
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spelling pubmed-101238502023-04-24 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study van Doesum, Tessa J Shields-Zeeman, Laura S Leone, Stephanie S van Meijel, Berno Jabbarian, Lea J van Bon-Martens, Marja BMJ Open Mental Health OBJECTIVES: To examine the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and well-being of mental health professionals (MHPs) in the Netherlands and understand their needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study was conducted with MHPs from the Netherlands from June 2020 to October 2020, consisting of an online survey and three online focus group discussions. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were MHPs from various occupational groups (psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses, developmental education workers, etc). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The online survey included questions about work-related changes due to COVID-19 perceived resilience to stress, changes in lifestyle behaviours and mental health symptoms. The focus group discussions focused mostly on work experiences during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: MHP’s reported an increase in experience workload during the pandemic (mean score 8.04 based on a scale of 1-10) compared to before the pandemic (mean score of 7). During the first wave of the pandemic, 50% of respondents reported increased stress, 32% increased sleeping problems and 24% increased mental health problems. Adverse occupational (eg, increased workload OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.28–2.32), psychological (eg, life satisfaction OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.52–0.75), lifestyle (eg, increased sleep problems OR 2.80, 95% CI 2.07–3.80) and physical factors (decline in physical health OR 3.56, 95% CI 2.61–4.85) were associated with a decline in mental health. Participants expressed significant concern in the focus group discussions about the duration of the pandemic, the high workload, less work-life balance and lack of contact with colleagues. Suggestions to improve working conditions included ensuring clear communication about guidelines and facilitating worker contact and support via peer-to-peer coaching where experiences can be shared. CONCLUSIONS: The current study indicates that MHP experienced a decline in mental health status during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which should be taken into consideration by employers, policymakers and researchers. BMJ Publishing Group 2023-04-18 /pmc/articles/PMC10123850/ /pubmed/37072369 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-062242 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Mental Health
van Doesum, Tessa J
Shields-Zeeman, Laura S
Leone, Stephanie S
van Meijel, Berno
Jabbarian, Lea J
van Bon-Martens, Marja
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study
title Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study
title_full Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study
title_fullStr Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study
title_full_unstemmed Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study
title_short Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study
title_sort impact of the covid-19 pandemic on working conditions and mental well-being of mental health professionals in the netherlands: a cross-sectional study
topic Mental Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10123850/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37072369
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-062242
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