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“The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis
OBJECTIVES: This study analyzes the subjective emotional impact COVID-19 deaths have had on healthcare, social services, and funeral services professionals, it explores the different implications, and analyzes the different reactions of health and social care professionals and funeral professionals...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9374276/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35968471 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.957173 |
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author | Hernández-Fernández, Carlos Meneses-Falcón, Carmen |
author_facet | Hernández-Fernández, Carlos Meneses-Falcón, Carmen |
author_sort | Hernández-Fernández, Carlos |
collection | PubMed |
description | OBJECTIVES: This study analyzes the subjective emotional impact COVID-19 deaths have had on healthcare, social services, and funeral services professionals, it explores the different implications, and analyzes the different reactions of health and social care professionals and funeral professionals to the volume of deaths. METHODS: This work is based on a qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretative approach through in-depth interviews with 42 informants, including 36 social and healthcare professionals, as well as 6 family members of those who died from COVID-19 in Madrid. The interviews were processed through a qualitative, interpretative, categorical analysis. RESULTS: Healthcare professionals were overexposed to a significant number of deaths under dramatic circumstances. Many of these professionals had difficulties processing their experiences and expressed the need for psychological help. The fact that certain professionals had previous exposure to high mortality rates was not a protective factor. Some coping differences were seen between healthcare professionals and professionals dedicated to the care of the deceased (undertakers or firemen), particularly in the degree to which they personalized the care they provided. CONCLUSION: The overexposure to death with the circumstances that existed during the state of emergency had a significant emotional impact on the professionals, which can lead to mental health problems in the near term. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9374276 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93742762022-08-13 “The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis Hernández-Fernández, Carlos Meneses-Falcón, Carmen Front Public Health Public Health OBJECTIVES: This study analyzes the subjective emotional impact COVID-19 deaths have had on healthcare, social services, and funeral services professionals, it explores the different implications, and analyzes the different reactions of health and social care professionals and funeral professionals to the volume of deaths. METHODS: This work is based on a qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretative approach through in-depth interviews with 42 informants, including 36 social and healthcare professionals, as well as 6 family members of those who died from COVID-19 in Madrid. The interviews were processed through a qualitative, interpretative, categorical analysis. RESULTS: Healthcare professionals were overexposed to a significant number of deaths under dramatic circumstances. Many of these professionals had difficulties processing their experiences and expressed the need for psychological help. The fact that certain professionals had previous exposure to high mortality rates was not a protective factor. Some coping differences were seen between healthcare professionals and professionals dedicated to the care of the deceased (undertakers or firemen), particularly in the degree to which they personalized the care they provided. CONCLUSION: The overexposure to death with the circumstances that existed during the state of emergency had a significant emotional impact on the professionals, which can lead to mental health problems in the near term. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-07-26 /pmc/articles/PMC9374276/ /pubmed/35968471 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.957173 Text en Copyright © 2022 Hernández-Fernández and Meneses-Falcón. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Public Health Hernández-Fernández, Carlos Meneses-Falcón, Carmen “The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis |
title | “The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis |
title_full | “The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis |
title_fullStr | “The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis |
title_full_unstemmed | “The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis |
title_short | “The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis |
title_sort | “the worst thing that has happened to me”: healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the covid-19 crisis |
topic | Public Health |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9374276/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35968471 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.957173 |
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