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A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Canadian Healthcare Workers’ Use of Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) have been exposed to highly stressful situations, including increased workloads and exposure to mortality, thus posing a risk for adverse psychological outcomes, including acute stress, moral injury, and depression or anxiety symptoms. Alth...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9915458/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36767913 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032551 |
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author | Karram, Mauda D’Alessandro-Lowe, Andrea M. Ritchie, Kimberly Brown, Andrea Xue, Yuanxin Pichtikova, Mina Altman, Maxwell Beech, Isaac Millman, Heather Hosseiny, Fardous Rodrigues, Sara Heber, Alexandra O’Connor, Charlene Schielke, Hugo Malain, Ann Lanius, Ruth A. McCabe, Randi E. McKinnon, Margaret C. |
author_facet | Karram, Mauda D’Alessandro-Lowe, Andrea M. Ritchie, Kimberly Brown, Andrea Xue, Yuanxin Pichtikova, Mina Altman, Maxwell Beech, Isaac Millman, Heather Hosseiny, Fardous Rodrigues, Sara Heber, Alexandra O’Connor, Charlene Schielke, Hugo Malain, Ann Lanius, Ruth A. McCabe, Randi E. McKinnon, Margaret C. |
author_sort | Karram, Mauda |
collection | PubMed |
description | Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) have been exposed to highly stressful situations, including increased workloads and exposure to mortality, thus posing a risk for adverse psychological outcomes, including acute stress, moral injury, and depression or anxiety symptoms. Although several reports have sought to identify the types of coping strategies used by HCWs over the course of the pandemic (e.g., physical activity, religion/spirituality, meditation, and alcohol), it remains unclear which factors may influence HCWs’ choice of these coping strategies. Accordingly, using a qualitative approach, the purpose of the present study was to gain a deeper understanding of the factors influencing HCWs’ choice of coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Fifty-one HCWs participated in virtual, semi-structured interviews between February and June 2021. Interview transcripts were analysed through an inductive thematic approach, yielding two primary themes. First, HCWs described an ongoing shift in their approach to coping depending on their mental “bandwidth”, ranging from “quick fix” to more “intentional effort” strategies to engage in proactive strategies to improve mental health. Second, many HCWs identified various barriers to desired coping strategies during the pandemic, including the preponderance of pandemic- and other circumstantial-related barriers. The findings from this study offer a unique understanding of the factors influencing HCWs’ choice of coping strategies under novel and increased stress. This knowledge will be central to developing appropriate forms of support and resources to equip HCWs throughout and after the pandemic period, and in mitigating the potential adverse mental health impacts of this period of prolonged stress and potential trauma. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9915458 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-99154582023-02-11 A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Canadian Healthcare Workers’ Use of Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic Karram, Mauda D’Alessandro-Lowe, Andrea M. Ritchie, Kimberly Brown, Andrea Xue, Yuanxin Pichtikova, Mina Altman, Maxwell Beech, Isaac Millman, Heather Hosseiny, Fardous Rodrigues, Sara Heber, Alexandra O’Connor, Charlene Schielke, Hugo Malain, Ann Lanius, Ruth A. McCabe, Randi E. McKinnon, Margaret C. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) have been exposed to highly stressful situations, including increased workloads and exposure to mortality, thus posing a risk for adverse psychological outcomes, including acute stress, moral injury, and depression or anxiety symptoms. Although several reports have sought to identify the types of coping strategies used by HCWs over the course of the pandemic (e.g., physical activity, religion/spirituality, meditation, and alcohol), it remains unclear which factors may influence HCWs’ choice of these coping strategies. Accordingly, using a qualitative approach, the purpose of the present study was to gain a deeper understanding of the factors influencing HCWs’ choice of coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Fifty-one HCWs participated in virtual, semi-structured interviews between February and June 2021. Interview transcripts were analysed through an inductive thematic approach, yielding two primary themes. First, HCWs described an ongoing shift in their approach to coping depending on their mental “bandwidth”, ranging from “quick fix” to more “intentional effort” strategies to engage in proactive strategies to improve mental health. Second, many HCWs identified various barriers to desired coping strategies during the pandemic, including the preponderance of pandemic- and other circumstantial-related barriers. The findings from this study offer a unique understanding of the factors influencing HCWs’ choice of coping strategies under novel and increased stress. This knowledge will be central to developing appropriate forms of support and resources to equip HCWs throughout and after the pandemic period, and in mitigating the potential adverse mental health impacts of this period of prolonged stress and potential trauma. MDPI 2023-01-31 /pmc/articles/PMC9915458/ /pubmed/36767913 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032551 Text en © 2023 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 Karram, Mauda D’Alessandro-Lowe, Andrea M. Ritchie, Kimberly Brown, Andrea Xue, Yuanxin Pichtikova, Mina Altman, Maxwell Beech, Isaac Millman, Heather Hosseiny, Fardous Rodrigues, Sara Heber, Alexandra O’Connor, Charlene Schielke, Hugo Malain, Ann Lanius, Ruth A. McCabe, Randi E. McKinnon, Margaret C. A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Canadian Healthcare Workers’ Use of Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title | A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Canadian Healthcare Workers’ Use of Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full | A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Canadian Healthcare Workers’ Use of Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_fullStr | A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Canadian Healthcare Workers’ Use of Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full_unstemmed | A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Canadian Healthcare Workers’ Use of Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_short | A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Canadian Healthcare Workers’ Use of Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_sort | qualitative approach to understanding canadian healthcare workers’ use of coping strategies during the covid-19 pandemic |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9915458/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36767913 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032551 |
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