Resilience strategies to manage psychological distress among healthcare workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic: a narrative review

Abstract

Summary The COVID‐19 pandemic marks an extraordinary global public health crisis unseen in the last century, with its rapid spread worldwide and associated mortality burden. The longevity of the crisis and disruption to normality is unknown. With COVID‐19 set to be a chronic health crisis, clinicians will be required to maintain a state of high alert for an extended period. The support received before and during an incident is likely to influence whether clinicians experience psychological growth or injury. An abundance of information is emerging on disease epidemiology, pathogenesis and infection control prevention. However, literature on interventions for supporting the psychological well‐being of healthcare workers during disease outbreaks is limited. This article summarises the available management strategies to increase resilience in healthcare workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic and beyond. It focuses on self‐care and organisational justice. It highlights various individual as well as organisational strategies. With the success of slowing disease spread in many countries to date, and reduced work‐load due to limitations on elective surgery in many institutions, there is more time and opportunity to be pro‐active in implementing measures to mitigate or minimise potential adverse psychological effects and improve, restore and preserve the well‐being of the workforce now and for years to come. The purpose of this review is to review available literature on strategies for minimising the psychological impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on clinicians and to identify pro‐active holistic approaches which may be beneficial for healthcare workers both for the current crisis and into the future.

COVID-19: Risk Factors and Protective Role of Resilience and Coping Strategies for Emergency Stress and Secondary Trauma in Medical Staff and Emergency Workers—An Online-Based Inquiry

“…Notably, in phase 1 of the pandemic, Italian health workers suffered from a lack of clear and specific intervention protocols, both in operational and pharmacological terms, as well as difficulties with reorganizing departments, a lack of necessary equipment, and little knowledge about the characteristics of the virus. The extent of these difficulties in the first phase of the pandemic may have limited the externalization of individual resources so that the results seem to reveal an absence of significance or protective efficacy of other coping strategies, such as focused problem and support, which normally tend to be more functional in interventions by rescuers, especially in the long term [57,60,69].…”

“…Heath at al. [69] investigated the mediating role of coping strategies and resilience to stress during a pandemic as well as the importance of increasing these factors in healthcare workers to mitigate or minimize potential adverse psychological effects. Most studies have analyzed the predictive and mediating effect of coping strategies and hardiness [65][66][67] singularly; few studies have analyzed the relationships between resilience, coping strategies, and mental health in healthcare and emergency workers [57,70].…”

A hybrid inductive-abductive analysis of health workers’ experiences and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

“…Our study found that on an individual level, personal health and ability to pursue self-care activities influenced their positive and negative experiences. Similarly, a review of resiliency strategies to promote HW wellbeing during pandemics concluded that promoting HWs’ ability to practice self-care on an individual level, including physical activity, sleep hygiene, and mindfulness, can foster their resiliency and decrease their psychological distress [ 32 ]. Providing HWs with resources and time to practice self-care activities and rest is vital to promote wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic and future outbreaks [ 4 ].…”

Global Psychological Implications of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). What Can Be Learned From Italy. Reflections, Perspectives, Opportunities

“…The virus is spreading very quickly and efficiently so that many regions are increasing intensive care beds, revolutionizing entire hospital wards. Our healthcare professionals are facing disease pulling 12-h shifts in critical situations and this phenomenon is leading to serious psychological distress in this population here ( Anmella et al, 2020 ; Barello et al, 2020 ; De Giorgio, 2020 ; ISS, 2020 ; Ramaci et al, 2020a ) as well as in other countries ( Bohlken et al, 2020 ; Heath et al, 2020 ; Ornell et al, 2020 ; Tsamakis et al, 2020 ).…”