ABSTRACT
IntroductionEpidemics lead to an increase in occupational stress and psychological strain among medical staff (cf. Mulfinger et al. 2020). However, there are no validated questionnaires to measure stress caused by an epidemic such as Covid-19, instead self-constructed questions are used frequently.ObjectivesThe aim was to develop items for the assessment of specific workload in epidemics which can be used to obtain longitudinal data.MethodsA sample of N=8078 persons working in the health care sector in Germany participated in the VOICE, EviPan online survey addressing the burden of Covid-19 pandemic during the 2nd quarter of 2020. We used 15 self-constructed items to examine whether these items can represent Covid-19 specific topics. A total of N=7549 (24% males) had complete data to run a confirmatory factor analysis using SEM procedure in Stata 14.2.ResultsFive factors were identified a priory: Factor (F) 1: Workload due to Covid-19 pandemic (4 items;Cronbachs’ alpha (α))=0.740);F 2: Fear, uncertainty of SarsCoV-2infection (self and others) (3 items;α= 0.741);F 3: Patient safety (3 items;α=0.533;F 4: Perception of protection concepts (2 items;α=0.590);F 5: Dysfunctional coping strategies (3 items;α=0.447). Fit-Indices: χ²(73)= 1373.849, p<.001, CFI=.946, TLI=.923, RMSEA=.0049, SRMR=.037)ConclusionsWe identified 5 factors associated with problems occurring during the Covid-19 pandemic with acceptable to good internal consistency. Most of the constructed items could therefore be used in further surveys to monitor stress, as a basis for recommendations in the area of stress prevention and interventions for medical staff during epidemics.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting mental health worldwide, particularly among healthcare workers (HCWs). Risk and protective factors for depression and generalized anxiety in healthcare workers need to be identified to protect their health and ability to work. Social support and optimism are known protective psychosocial resources, but have not been adequately studied in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers in Germany. METHODS: Within the first wave of the VOICE study (n = 7765), a longitudinal web-based survey study among healthcare workers in Germany, we assessed symptoms of depression (PHQ-2) and generalized anxiety (GAD-2), social support (ENRICHD Social Support Inventory;ESSI), and generalized optimism as well as sociodemographic, occupational, and COVID-19 related variables. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between the constructs. RESULTS: The analyses revealed that higher levels of social support and optimism were associated with lower levels of depression and generalized anxiety. They showed a higher association with depression and generalized anxiety than demographic or occupational risk factors such as female gender and direct contact with infected individuals. CONCLUSION: Psychosocial resources such as social support and optimism appear to contribute to successful coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and should be considered in future studies.