JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The overall pandemic created an enormous pressure on long-term care workers, making them particularly vulnerable to mental disorders. Despite this, most of the available evidence for professional wellbeing during COVID-19 has exclusively focused on frontline healthcare workers.

Objective:

This study aimed to identify long-term psychological needs of long-term care workers derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, and to explore barriers and facilitators related to digital mental health tools. This is part of a project that seeks to develop a digital mental health intervention to reduce psychological distress in this population group.

Methods:

We performed a qualitative study with a rapid research approach. Participants were long-term care workers of the autonomous community of Catalonia. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews between April and September 2022. We used a qualitative content analysis method with an inductive-deductive approach.

Results:

The period of the pandemic with highest mental health burden was the COVID-19 outbreak, with almost all workers having experienced some form of emotional distress. Emotional distress persisted over time in more than half of participants, with fatigue and nervousness being the main emotions expressed at the time of the interview. High workload, feeling that pandemic times are not over and poor working conditions that have remained since then, have been the most frequently expressed determinants of such emotions. Potential barriers/facilitators to engagement with digital tools were also identified in terms of previous experience and beliefs of the target population, possibilities for integration of a digital tool into daily life, preferences regarding the level of guidance, the possibility of social connectedness through the tool and privacy and confidentiality. The identified factors may become especially relevant in the context of pandemic remission phase.

Conclusions:

More than two years after the pandemic outbreak, emotional distress is still relevant. The persistent burden of psychological distress points to a need for institutions to take action to improve working conditions and promote employees’ wellbeing. Taking into account factors that act as barriers and facilitators for the use of digital mental health tools, is important to develop tailored tools that could offer valuable support to this population during and after a pandemic.