Assessment of Psychological Distress in Health-care Workers during and after the First Wave of COVID-19: A Canadian Longitudinal Study: Évaluation de la Détresse Psychologique Chez Les Travailleurs de la Santé Durant et Après la Première Vague de la COVID-19: une étude longitudinale canadienne

Abstract

Objectives: Health-care workers (HCW) exposed to COVID-19 are at risk of experiencing psychological distress. Although several cross-sectional studies have been carried out, a longitudinal perspective is needed to better understand the evolution of psychological distress indicators within this population. The objectives of this study were to assess the evolution of psychological distress and to identify psychological distress trajectories of Canadian HCW during and after the first wave of COVID-19. Method: This prospective cohort study was conducted from May 8 to September 4, 2020, and includes a volunteer sample of 373 HCW. Symptoms of post-traumatic disorder, anxiety, and depression were assessed using the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (PCL-5), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Descriptive statistics were used to illustrate the evolution of psychological distress indicators, whereas latent class analysis was carried out to identify trajectories. Results: During and after the first wave of COVID-19, the rates of clinical mental health symptoms among our sample varied between 6.2% and 22.2% for post-traumatic stress, 10.1% and 29.9% for depression, and 7.3% and 26.9% for anxiety. Finally, 4 trajectories were identified: recovered (18.77%), resilient (65.95%), subchronic (7.24%), and delayed (8.04%). Conclusion: The longitudinal nature of our study and the scarcity of our data are unique among existing studies on psychological distress of HCW in COVID-19 context and allow us to contextualize prior transversal data on the topic. Although our data illustrated an optimistic picture in showing that the majority of HCW follow a resilience trajectory, it is still important to focus our attention on those who present psychological distress. Implementing preventive mental health interventions in our health-care institutions that may prevent chronic distress is imperative. Further studies need to be done to identify predictors that may help to characterize these trajectories.

COVID-19, Healthcare Workers and Mental Wellbeing: Lessons From One Very Cold and Another Very Hot Part of the World

“…Dufour and colleagues' work investigated the frequency of psychological distress among healthcare workers (HW) in the province of Quebec during and after the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. 1 Authors reported peak point prevalence of mental health symptoms in HW of 22.2% for post-traumatic stress, 29.9% for depression and 26.9% for anxiety, consistent with similar data collected around the World. 2 These findings are mirrored in a recent cross-sectional survey conducted in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the zenith of the first wave of the pandemic, suggesting that an overall 39% of HW were affected by symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, 13% of them severely.…”

Prolonged Stress Causes Depression in Frontline Workers Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study in a COVID-19 Hub-Hospital in Central Italy

“…The analysis of stress and mental health at various times of the pandemic and after its conclusion will help to disentangle the effect of the epidemic from that of other common stressors in health care activities. Several epidemiological studies based on repeated cross-sectional models have been announced or have published baseline reports [ 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. This study is the first to document the mental health differences of HCWs at the start of the pandemic and after ten months, when the second wave had its effects and vaccines were not yet available.…”

Trauma and stressor-related disorders among health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic and the role of the gender: A prospective longitudinal survey.

“…In spite of the increasing publication of longitudinal studies that have analyzed psychological impact of COVID-19 on the mental health status of the HCW, no reliable conclusions have been drawn ( Dufour et al, 2021 ; Sasaki et al, 2021 ). Nevertheless, previous longitudinal studies examining mental health consequences among professionals facing previous major disasters showed a high prevalence of psychological effects among this population ( Fullerton et al, 2004 ).…”