To prevent being stressed-out: Allostatic overload and resilience of general practitioners in the era of COVID-19. A cross-sectional observational study.
Eur J Gen Pract
; 27(1): 277-285, 2021 Dec.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1462199
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Responsibility of general practitioners (GPs) in delivering safe and effective care is always high but during the COVID-19 pandemic they face even growing pressure that might result in unbearable stress load (allostatic overload, AO) leading to disease.OBJECTIVES:
We aimed to measure AO of Hungarian GPs during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore their recreational resources to identify potential protective factors against stress load.METHODS:
In a mixed-method design, Fava's clinimetric approach to AO was applied alongside the Psychosocial Index (PSI); Kellner's symptom questionnaire (SQ) to measure depression, anxiety, hostility and somatisation and the Public Health Surveillance Well-being Scale (PHS-WB) to determine mental, social, and physical well-being. Recreational resources were mapped. Besides Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests, regression analysis was applied to identify explanatory variables of AO.RESULTS:
Data of 228 GPs (68% females) were analysed. Work-related changes caused the biggest challenges leading to AO in 60% of the sample. While female sex (OR 1.99; CI 1.06; 3.74, p = 0.032) and other life stresses (OR 1.4; CI 1.2; 1.6, p < 0.001) associated with increased odds of AO, each additional day with 30 min for recreation purposes associated with 20% decreased odds (OR 0.838; CI 0.72; 0.97, p = 0.020). 3-4 days a week when time was ensured for recreation associated with elevated mental and physical well-being, while 5-7 days associated with lower depressive and anxiety symptoms, somatisation, and hostility.CONCLUSION:
Under changing circumstances, resilience improvement through increasing time spent on recreation should be emphasised to prevent GPs from the adverse health consequences of stress load.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Resilience, Psychological
/
General Practitioners
/
Occupational Stress
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Etiology study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur J Gen Pract
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
13814788.2021.1982889
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