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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.
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For decades, the public health service in Germany (PHS) experienced shortages of young professionals and challenges in recruiting qualified personnel. To sustainably counteract this challenge, it is necessary to understand the reasons of the perceived low attractiveness of PHS as a potential employer among students and young professionals. Two cross-sectional online surveys were conducted to assess the attitudes of medical, public health, and health science students towards the PHS as a potential employer. Wave 1, conducted from 2019-12 to 2020-04, focused on factors associated with high and with low interest in working for the PHS. Wave 2 was conducted from 2020-06 to 2020-09 to capture changes that may have resulted from the newfound attention of the PHS during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Participants in both waves were asked about opportunities to increase the attractiveness of the PHS, which were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. In total 3040 students participated. Low interest in the PHS was associated with limited knowledge about public health, primary interest in clinical medicine, and a negative image of the public service. The qualitative analysis indicated as major obstacles: low visibility of and low awareness about the PHS, a perception of hierarchical and bureaucratic workplaces, and perceptions of repetitive occupations, among others. The participants suggested: improving awareness about the PHS in the population, including PHS in curriculum, and reducing entry barriers for non-medical students. The results of the largest survey of students on the attractiveness of the ÖGD in Germany provide valuable insights for ongoing reform processes. In addition to approaches to increase external visibility, existing processes and procedures within the ÖGD should be considered. Key messages • To counteract the shortage of skilled workers, the PHS must become more attractive to young professionals. This requires both, greater external visibility and modernization of internal structures. • Successful inclusion of the perspective of young professionals in the current modernization processes introduces opportunities to increase the attractiveness of the PHS in the long-term.
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Einleitung The Public Health Service in Germany (PHS, German: ÖGD) has been suffering from a significant shortage of young professionals for decades. An issue likely to intensify in the coming years due to demographic processes. This applies not only, but especially, to the municipal level. The reasons for the perceived low attractiveness of the PHS as a potential employer have been widely discussed, but so far, no empirical data is available. Therefore, the German Network of Young Professionals in Public Health (German: NOEG), has set up a study to analyze the attractiveness of the PHS as a potential employer for young professionals. Methoden We conducted two cross-sectional surveys to assess the requirements and expectations of students in PHSrelevant fields of study with regard to their future employers. The first survey (wave 1) was conducted from December 2019 to April 2020 and focused on wishes and expectations of medical, public health, and health science students regarding their prospective jobs and employers. It was postulated that the various roles and activities of the public health workforce within the PHS are of interest to many students but are not considered as potential fields of employment for a variety of reasons. The second survey (wave 2) was conducted from June to September 2020 to be able to address any changes that may have resulted from the newfound attention on the PHS during the coronavirus crisis, to identify changes in the evaluation of the PHS as a potential employer form a young professional perspective. Ergebnisse In the wave 1, 2456 students participated, with an additional 584 taking part in wave 2. Medical students were less likely to report interest in working for the PHS in comparison with public health students and students of other health sciences. The vast majority of those medical students that considered the PHS as a potential employer reported their main interest as working in primary health care. Public health students and other students have experienced barriers when seeking jobs in the PHS. The respondees reported on a number of domains contributing to a low attractiveness of the PHS as an employer, such as the PHS being perceived as antiquated, inefficient and slow, the occupations consisting of too much braucracy, and limited career opportunities. Suggestions for improvement included a stronger occupational focus on prevention, health promotion and public health impact, modernization and digitalization, as well as providing attractive job offers for candidates without a professional training in medicine. Schlussfolgerung The results of this largest survey regarding the attractivenss of the German PHS among students provide valuable insights for the reform of the German PHS. We synthesized a number of suggestions for reform, among others regarding training and education, occupation in the PHS, adminstrative processes, and career opportunities.
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Introduction: During the pandemic, the social roles of women were accentuated which were added and distributed in: worker, "housewife", mother and teacher. The objective of this study is to contextualize the social roles of women and the impact of telework, highlighting the case of those who worked at the Brazilian Federal Judiciary during the Covid-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: Thematic content analysis of open interviews during the pandemic. Eight women workers from different positions in a Judiciary Section participat-ed. Results: Three main themes are identified: work activity, life outside work, and work time. New tasks, a new way of managing work time and the need to estab-lish clear boundaries to ensure a balance between life at work and life out-side. What was already known is reiterated, women continue to do more hours of domestic tasks, and above all they are the ones who take care of the children. Conclusions: For women in telework, the two spaces - public and private - merged and become confused. Redesigning the temporalities of work and life in these workplaces needs to be accompanied by social level policies that ad-dress caregiving responsibilities and gender equality. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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The manifold potentials and challenges of digitalization became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter will present and discuss the social aspects of digitalization in times of COVID-19 from different perspectives. In doing so, the focus will be on the following two aspects: (1) Interaction and handling of digital information place many demands on information users and on those who provide the information. This has been especially true since the COVID-19 pandemic, which was accompanied by an infodemic. This is where digital health literacy comes in, which is the ability to find, understand, assess, and apply digital information in the context of health. (2) The use of digital technologies on health-related topics is socially unequally distributed in society—both horizontally (gender, age, migration, place of residence) and vertically (socioeconomic status). For this reason, the digital health divide is a major obstacle for digital technologies in healthcare—during COVID-19 and beyond. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Introduction: As COVID-19 spread in Brazil, the Brazilian Federal Justice determined compulsory telework starting March 2020. We aimed to contextualize the impact of telework and the social roles of females working for the Federal Justice during the pandemic. Material and Methods: Content analysis of open interviews was conducted with seven women from different job titles in the Judiciary. Results are part of an ongoing doctoral study, approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the School of Public Health, University of São Paulo. Results: It was evident that there were both favorable aspects and constraints imposed by the new work organization. A “multiple” journey was imposed on female workers who have children or other dependents. The need to find additional time in their day to do their work, either by starting work very early in the morning, or working very late at night, as well as interrupting the working day in smaller segments, with breaks for childcare, domestic chores, home education, among others. However, participants perceived the post-pandemic partial telework as favorable. Conclusions: Public and private spaces merged and blended for women working as teleworkers during the pandemic. Female workers were forced to take care of domestic and professional work, overwhelming themselves, as they need to manage two social spaces in a single geographical place. Redesigning the temporalities of work and private life require to be accompanied by social policies addressing caregiving responsibilities and gender equality.
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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health literacy (DHL) has become a significant public health concern. This research aims to assess information seeking behavior, as well as the ability to find relevant information and deal with DHL among university students in Pakistan. An online-based cross-sectional survey, using a web-based interviewing technique, was conducted to collect data on DHL. Simple bivariate and multivariate linear regression was performed to assess the association of key characteristics with DHL. The results show a high DHL related to COVID-19 in 54.3% of students. Most of the Pakistani students demonstrated ~50% DHL in all dimensions, except for reliability. Multivariate findings showed that gender, sense of coherence and importance of information were found to be significantly associated with DHL. However, a negative association was observed with students' satisfaction with information. This led to the conclusion that critical operational and navigations skills are essential to achieve COVID-19 DHL and cope with stress, particularly to promote both personal and community health. Focused interventions and strategies should be designed to enhance DHL amongst university students to combat the pandemic.