ABSTRACT
Background: The starting point of the study is the high psychosocial distress of healthcare professionals and the low utilization of a counselling and support service specifically developed for employees of a university hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.Objective: The present study examines the degree of psychosocial distress experienced as well as knowledge, utilization, and evaluation of in-house psychosocial care structures based on a large sample of healthcare professionals (n = 859) at a university hospital.Material and methods:Within the framework of an online survey (21 July 2021-19 October 2021), the subjectively perceived stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, depressive symptoms (PHQ-8) of the healthcare professionals as well as knowledge, utilization, and evaluation of possible care services offered by the university hospital were collected. In addition, qualitative data were collected on the source of knowledge, the provision of information and the type of contact with the in-house care structures.Results: Despite high psychosocial distress and predominant knowledge about the existence of in-house psychosocial care services, the utilization of these services is low among healthcare professionals. In particular, contact with patients was a risk factor for the psychosocial distress. The qualitative analysis shows that employees would prefer to be informed via email and newsletter and that they miss a clear presentation of care structures.Conclusion: A revision of the presentation of offers and contact channels according to the wishes of the staff could improve the acceptance of in-house services.