ABSTRACT
Multiple psychological health problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic among both the general public and health-care workers have been identified in the scientific literature. However, most studies used quantitative methods with scales selected on the basis of the researchers' pre-established knowledge derived from the experience of other situations and which can therefore induce biases. The dual aim of the present study was to explore qualitatively the perceived psychological consequences of lockdown on members of the general public and the perceived psychological consequences of COVID-19 on health-care workers. We recruited 241 participants from the general public and 120 health-care workers. They consented online to participate and completed open-ended questions evaluating the consequence of the health crisis on their life as a couple, on their friendships, family life, work, studies, psychological health, stress, and vision of the future. Finally, participants were asked to add any further consequences that had not been mentioned. We used double coding to process the data. We identified five main themes among the participants from the general public: improved and maintained social relationships, deterioration of health, improved health, personal growth, and lack of direct social contact. We also identified five main issues among the health-care workers: psychological and emotional impact, adjusting, negative impact on work, worries, and uncertainty about the future. The results confirmed the existence of psychological health problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also highlighted positive consequences. Health-care workers tended to perceive more negative consequences than the participants from the general public.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Multiple psychological consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine have been described. However, there is a lack of global conceptualization. We argue that the stressful aspects of the situation, the multiple environmental consequences of the outbreak, and the diversity of symptoms observed in such a situation, suggest that Adjustment disorder (AD) is a promising way to conceptualize the psychological consequences of the outbreak and quarantine. The first aim of the study was to validate the French version of the ADNM. The second aim was to set out adjustment difficulties resulting from COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine. METHOD: We recruited 1010 (840 women, 170 men) who consented online to participate. They filled out the French ADNM, visual analogic scales, HADS, IES, and the COPE, to evaluate coping strategies. RESULTS: We confirmed the factor structure of the ADNM and we found good psychometric properties. We found that 61.3% of participants presented an adjustment disorder related to COVID-19 outbreak. We found multiple risk factors and protective factors to AD due to quarantine and outbreak. We also identified the coping strategies negatively and positively associated with AD. CONCLUSION: Adjustment disorder is a relevant concept to understand psychological manifestations caused by quarantine and outbreak. The French ANDM has good psychometric properties to evaluate such manifestations. The association between coping strategies and AD symptoms suggest that CBT may be the best intervention to help people suffering from AD.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Quarantine , Disease Outbreaks , Female , Humans , Male , Psychometrics , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused major sanitary crisis worldwide. Half of the world has been placed in quarantine. In France, this large-scale health crisis urgently triggered the restructuring and reorganization of health service delivery to support emergency services, medical intensive care units and continuing care units. Health professionals mobilized all their resources to provide emergency aid in a general climate of uncertainty. Concerns about the mental health, psychological adjustment, and recovery of health care workers treating and caring for patients with COVID-19 are now arising. The goal of the present article is to provide up-to-date information on potential mental health risks associated with exposure of health professionals to the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Authors performed a narrative review identifying relevant results in the scientific and medical literature considering previous epidemics of 2003 (SARS-CoV-1) and 2009 (H1N1) with the more recent data about the COVID-19 pandemic. We highlighted most relevant data concerning the disease characteristics, the organizational factors and personal factors that may contribute to developing psychological distress and other mental health symptoms. RESULTS: The disease characteristics of the current COVID-19 pandemic provoked a generalized climate of wariness and uncertainty, particularly among health professionals, due to a range of causes such as the rapid spread of COVID-19, the severity of symptoms it can cause in a segment of infected individuals, the lack of knowledge of the disease, and deaths among health professionals. Stress may also be caused by organizational factors, such as depletion of personal protection equipment, concerns about not being able to provide competent care if deployed to new area, concerns about rapidly changing information, lack of access to up-to-date information and communication, lack of specific drugs, the shortage of ventilators and intensive care unit beds necessary to care for the surge of critically ill patients, and significant change in their daily social and family life. Further risk factors have been identified, including feelings of being inadequately supported, concerns about health of self, fear of taking home infection to family members or others, and not having rapid access to testing through occupational health if needed, being isolated, feelings of uncertainty and social stigmatization, overwhelming workload, or insecure attachment. Additionally, we discussed positive social and organizational factors that contribute to enhance resilience in the face of the pandemic. There is a consensus in all the relevant literature that health care professionals are at an increased risk of high levels of stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, which could have long-term psychological implications. CONCLUSIONS: In the long run, this tragic health crisis should significantly enhance our understanding of the mental health risk factors among the health care professionals facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Reporting information such as this is essential to plan future prevention strategies. Protecting health care professionals is indeed an important component of public health measures to address large-scale health crisis. Thus, interventions to promote mental well-being in health care professionals exposed to COVID-19 need to be immediately implemented, and to strengthen prevention and response strategies by training health care professionals on mental help and crisis management.