ABSTRACT
Work engagement and stress experience of health professionals in times of the corona pandemic Abstract. Background: The corona pandemic, caused by the novel viral disease COVID-19, has led to excessive strain in health professionals whose general occupational situation in itself is associated with high levels of stress. So far, there is no quantitative data on the stress experience caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in German health professionals and on the consequences of this experience for their commitment to work. METHOD: With a cross-sectional design, German health professionals were asked about their stress experience, health concerns and work commitment. The snapshot survey used self-developed questions plus items of a validated scale measuring work engagement. A convenience sample of health professionals was recruited through social media. The E-Survey reached 1168 valid cases, the majority of which were nurses (80.4 %, n = 855). RESULTS: The evaluation shows that health professionals in direct contact with COVID-19 patients show higher stress levels than participants with no contact and that their main concern is about the health of relatives, friends and family. In addition, it was found that the participants' work commitment decreased parallel to the increase in pandemic-related stress. DISCUSSION: The study shows significant correlations between work demands, stress experience and work engagement. In contrast to earlier studies, the results for work engagement in the sample are relatively low. There is a growing number of international recommendations for reducing work-related stress factors in a pandemic which should now be implemented in Germany on a large scale. These include, amongst others, pandemic specific catalogues of prevention measures and the creation of a blame-free work environment.
