Mental health outcomes among British healthcare workers: Lessons from the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic

Maciej Debski, Hesham K. Abdelaziz, Jo Sanderson, Susan Wild, Omar Assaf, Andrew Wiper, Amjad Nabi, Amr Abdelrahman, Jonas Eichhofer, Geraldine Skailes, Jim Gardner, Kevin Moynes, Grahame Goode, Tayeem Pathan, Billal Patel, Somnath Kumar, Rebecca Taylor, Gavin Galasko, Ranjit More, Shajil ChalilTawfiq Choudhury

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the level of psychological distress, using validated psychology tools, among British National healthcare workers (HCW) during the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis. METHODS: A multi-centre, anonymized, all-comer staff survey across 3 hospitals in Lancashire, England during the Covid-19 first wave (April to June 2020), consisting of Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Impact of Events Scale (IES-6). RESULTS: Among 1113 HCW, median (IQR) PHQ-9, GAD-7, PSS-10, and IES-6 score was 7 (3 to 11), 6 (3 to 11), 19 (13 to 24), and 9 (5 to 14), respectively. Potential predictors of higher levels of psychological distress included living alone, disabled dependents, history of depression/anxiety, and being female. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates a high prevalence of psychological distress during the acute Covid-19 period among HCW, identifies groups at risk and areas of future research.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e549-e555
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Volume63
Issue number8
Early online dateJun 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021

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