Effect of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers

Background: As COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect every nation, Healthcare Workers (HCW) who care for the patients are psychologically impacted. The fear of contracting the disease and bringing it home to their family members, especially aged parents, and those with underlying health conditions, also makes them susceptible to stress and anxiety. This study aims to assess the psychological impact experienced by HCW and the psychosocial support they received.

Methods: Using PubMed, google scholar and Embase from December 2019 through June 2021, we found 376 studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of HCW. Using our inclusion criteria, 325 studies were excluded. 51 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. 9 articles which met our criteria and eligibility criteria reported on 19,232 HCW, and 75.2% of the study participants were women.

Results: The study participants reported high levels of stress, hypervigilance, fatigue, sleep problems, PTSD symptoms, poor concentration, depression, anxiety, burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, suicide and self-harm ideations and somatic symptoms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The psychosocial support provided to HCW includes counseling and psychotherapy-based sessions on stress adaptation, onsite mindfulness-based crisis intervention, online form of emotional freedom technique, and Effort-reward system.

Conclusion: Multiple interventions found in our review were effective in mitigating psychological stress among HCWs. These interventions should be considered as part of support provided to HCW with psychosocial challenges.