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The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Workers during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Study in Poland

Introduction: The current epidemiological situation has quickly led to several changes in the daily functioning of people around the world, especially among medical personnel, who in this difficult period were burdened with new professional duties, which significantly affects their mental health. Ma...

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Autores principales: Babicki, Mateusz, Szewczykowska, Ilona, Mastalerz-Migas, Agnieszka
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8200963/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34198833
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18116101
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author Babicki, Mateusz
Szewczykowska, Ilona
Mastalerz-Migas, Agnieszka
author_facet Babicki, Mateusz
Szewczykowska, Ilona
Mastalerz-Migas, Agnieszka
author_sort Babicki, Mateusz
collection PubMed
description Introduction: The current epidemiological situation has quickly led to several changes in the daily functioning of people around the world, especially among medical personnel, who in this difficult period were burdened with new professional duties, which significantly affects their mental health. Materials: This study aims to assess the mental health of health professionals at a critical point in their workload, to compare the results with those the general population, and to explore the potential determinants affecting it. The CAWI survey includes a sociodemographic section, work experience and a standardised psychometric tool (GHQ-28). Data were collected during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland (3–29 November 2020), which had the highest mortality rates and SARS-CoV-2 morbidity rates, as well as during the period of a significant increase in deaths, compared to the corresponding pre-pandemic period. Results: A total of 2150 surveys were eligible for analysis. Among them, 848 (39.4%) were active health professionals. In the analysis of the scores of the GHQ-28 scale and its sub-scales, evaluating anxiety/insomnia and somatic symptoms, medical workers scored significantly higher scores than non-medical professions (p < 0.001). Frontline medical workers (p < 0.001) and those who were forcibly seconded to work with COVID-19-infected patients (p = 0.011) achieved significantly higher GHQ-28 scores. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on mental deterioration among health professionals, especially among those directly working with SARS-CoV-2-infected patients and those who were forcibly seconded to work with such patients. To mitigate the effects of the pandemic, appropriate psychological care for medical personnel needs to be implemented.
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spelling pubmed-82009632021-06-15 The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Workers during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Study in Poland Babicki, Mateusz Szewczykowska, Ilona Mastalerz-Migas, Agnieszka Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Introduction: The current epidemiological situation has quickly led to several changes in the daily functioning of people around the world, especially among medical personnel, who in this difficult period were burdened with new professional duties, which significantly affects their mental health. Materials: This study aims to assess the mental health of health professionals at a critical point in their workload, to compare the results with those the general population, and to explore the potential determinants affecting it. The CAWI survey includes a sociodemographic section, work experience and a standardised psychometric tool (GHQ-28). Data were collected during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland (3–29 November 2020), which had the highest mortality rates and SARS-CoV-2 morbidity rates, as well as during the period of a significant increase in deaths, compared to the corresponding pre-pandemic period. Results: A total of 2150 surveys were eligible for analysis. Among them, 848 (39.4%) were active health professionals. In the analysis of the scores of the GHQ-28 scale and its sub-scales, evaluating anxiety/insomnia and somatic symptoms, medical workers scored significantly higher scores than non-medical professions (p < 0.001). Frontline medical workers (p < 0.001) and those who were forcibly seconded to work with COVID-19-infected patients (p = 0.011) achieved significantly higher GHQ-28 scores. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on mental deterioration among health professionals, especially among those directly working with SARS-CoV-2-infected patients and those who were forcibly seconded to work with such patients. To mitigate the effects of the pandemic, appropriate psychological care for medical personnel needs to be implemented. MDPI 2021-06-05 /pmc/articles/PMC8200963/ /pubmed/34198833 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18116101 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Babicki, Mateusz
Szewczykowska, Ilona
Mastalerz-Migas, Agnieszka
The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Workers during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Study in Poland
title The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Workers during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Study in Poland
title_full The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Workers during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Study in Poland
title_fullStr The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Workers during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Study in Poland
title_full_unstemmed The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Workers during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Study in Poland
title_short The Mental Well-Being of Health Care Workers during the Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Study in Poland
title_sort mental well-being of health care workers during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic—a nationwide study in poland
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8200963/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34198833
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18116101
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