Improving Healthcare Worker Resilience and Well-Being During COVID-19 Using a Self-Directed E-Learning Intervention

Abstract

Introduction: High rates of burnout, depression, anxiety, and insomnia in healthcare workers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported globally.Methods: Responding to the crisis, the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) developed an e-learning course to support healthcare worker well-being and resilience. A self-paced, asynchronous learning model was used as the training intervention. Each module included practical, skill-building activities. An outcome evaluation was conducted to determine if completing the course improved healthcare worker knowledge of and confidence in the learning outcomes of the course, their use of resilience-building behaviours, their resilience, and their well-being. A secondary objective was to explore if there were any associations between behaviours, resilience, and well-being. Participants completed pre- and post-course questionnaires to measure knowledge of and confidence in the learning outcomes, y, frequency of self-reported resilience-building behaviours, and levels of resilience (CD-RISC) and well-being (WHO-5). Results were analysed in STATA using paired T-tests, univariate and multivariate linear regression models.Results: Participants (n = 474; 77.6% female; 55.7% primary care) exhibited significant increases in knowledge, confidence, resilience-building behaviour, resilience, and well-being scores. Statistically significant improvements in the frequency of resilience-building behaviours led to significant improvements in resilience (0.25 points; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.43) and well-being (0.21 points; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.36). Increasing changes in well-being scores had a positive effect on change in resilience scores (β = 0.20; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.29), and vice versa (β = 0.28; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.41).Conclusion: A healthcare worker e-learning course can build knowledge and skills that may prompt changes in resilience-building behaviours and improvements in well-being and resilience scores. The findings suggest that e-learning courses may improve more than competency-based outcomes alone but further research is warranted to further explore these relationships.

COVID-19–Related Trajectories of Psychological Health of Acute Care Healthcare Professionals: A 12-Month Longitudinal Observational Study

“…Research has shown that resilience can act as a “buffer” during high periods of stress and is a protective factor against burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder ( Arrogante and Aparicio-Zaldivar, 2017 ; Kelly et al, 2021 ). During pandemics, there is an opportunity to improve HCWs’ ability to cope with and manage stress by building their resilience as a complementary approach to the necessary systemic efforts required.…”

Practical resiliency training for healthcare workers during COVID-19: results from a randomised controlled trial testing the Community Resiliency Model for well-being support

“…This study may be compared with other interventional research studies. It is clear from the flurry of recent publications that the mental well-being of HCWs is receiving critical and needed attention, and that mindfulness and coping interventions 4 or more comprehensive wellness interventions 49 are of great interest. Such interventions improve well-being and resilience, 49 but are of considerably longer training duration than CRM.…”

“…It is clear from the flurry of recent publications that the mental well-being of HCWs is receiving critical and needed attention, and that mindfulness and coping interventions 4 or more comprehensive wellness interventions 49 are of great interest. Such interventions improve well-being and resilience, 49 but are of considerably longer training duration than CRM. CRM’s strength is its brevity and orientation to the body itself as an in-the-moment tool for stress tolerance.…”

Bibliometric visualisation of industrial and organisational psychology during COVID-19 pandemic: Insight for future research

“…Regarding the conditions, providing mental health programmes for health care workers is urgently needed, both as preventive and curative action (Crittenden, Spieker, & Landini, 2021 ; Yang et al, 2021 ). Besides developing internal ability programmes such as increasing self-efficacy (Vagni et al, 2020 ), resiliency (Kelly, Uys, Bezuidenhout, Mullane, & Bristol, 2021 ), effective appraisal and coping (Cook et al, 2021 ; Ji, Han, Deng, & Lu, 2021 ; Pearman, Hughes, Smith, & Neupert, 2020 ), it is essential to provide social support (Husted & Dalton, 2021 ; Ji et al, 2021 ) and health service such as telecounselling that may feasibly improve mental health conditions (Gupta et al, 2021 ).…”