Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Aug 5, 2021
Date Accepted: Aug 28, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Sep 3, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Exploring Well-being of Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Prospective Longitudinal Study Protocol
ABSTRACT
Background:
Healthcare workers (HCWs) have experienced several stressors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural stressors, including extended work hours, re-deployment, and changes in organizational mandates often intersect with interpersonal and personal stressors, such as caring for those with COVID-19 infections, worrying about infection to self, family and loved ones, working despite shortages of personal protective equipment, and encountering various difficult moral-ethical dilemmas.
Objective:
The paper describes the protocol for a longitudinal study seeking to capture the unique experiences, challenges, and changes faced by HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study seeks to explore: (a) the impact of COVID-19 on the mental well-being of HCWs with a particular focus on moral distress, and (b) perceptions and satisfaction with delivery of care, and (c) how changes in work structure are tolerated among HCWs providing clinical services.
Methods:
A prospective longitudinal design is employed to assess HCWs’ experiences across domains of mental health (depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and well-being), moral distress and moral reasoning, work-related changes and telehealth, organizational responses to COVID-19 concerns, and experiences with COVID-19 infections to self and to others. We recruited HCWs from across Canada through convenience snowball sampling to participate in either a short-form or long-form online survey at baseline. Respondents to the baseline survey are invited to complete a follow-up survey every three months, for a total of 18 months.
Results:
A total of 1926 participants completed baseline surveys between June 26, 2020, and December 31, 2020, and 1859 participants provided their emails for contact to participate in follow-up surveys. As of July 2021, data collection is ongoing, with participants nearing the 6 or 9-month follow-up periods depending on their initial time of self-enrollment.
Conclusions:
The current protocol describes a study that will provide unique insights into the immediate and longitudinal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dimensions of mental health, moral distress, healthcare delivery, and workplace environment in HCWs. The feasibility and acceptability of implementing a short-form and long-form survey on participant engagement and data retention will also be discussed.
Citation
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Copyright
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