The Impact of Coping Skills in Post-traumatic Growth of Healthcare Providers: When Mental Health Is Deteriorating Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Frontline healthcare providers are consistently exposed to potentially traumatic events while assisting patients with COVID-19. Post-traumatic growth (PTG) happens when a person can transform trauma and use adversity in one’s advantage. In response to limited studies on positive outcomes that may occur from the pandemic; this study aimed to elucidate the positive impact of coping with COVID-19 outbreak on mental health, such as PTG.Methodology: The study comprised a sample of 691 healthcare providers 59% female, including physicians (n = 138) and nurses (n = 550), working in public health facilities in Kosovo, with an average age of 41.6 years (SD = 10.79). They were asked to complete a questionnaire with four parts: Socio-demographic, GHQ-28, COPE and PTGI. A deterioration of mental health with somatic symptoms leading to the escalation due to COVID-19 outbreak was found.Results: Female healthcare providers reported more clinical symptoms as well as higher coping skills scores than men. The domains in which positive changes were most frequently observed were Relating to Others, New Possibilities and Personal Strength. There was no significant direct effect of mental health on PTG in the mediation model, though a significant indirect effect was observed for coping skills.Conclusion: The results suggest that levels of mental health exacerbation do not play a conclusive role in determining levels of PTG, as long coping mechanisms are in place. The development and implementation of interventions to minimize COVID-19-related mental health consequences, by fostering PTG among healthcare providers could be highly beneficial in pandemic response work.

The relationship between big five personality traits, coping strategies, and emotional problems through the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In addition to these parts, an added value of this research is the part of focusing on the pandemic situation which has challenged the mental health status of all people around the world, especially in Kosovo, where the high mortality rate has affected well-being, psychological problems of people and has added to emotional problems including problems with depression, anxiety and somatic ones. As a result, health professionals have given importance to the use of appropriate coping strategies as a way of coping with the created pandemic situation COVID-19 (Prekazi et al, 2021). Such a study is important for the fact that we can understand how different types of personality traits are correlated with emotional problems and how they face stressful situations with different coping strategies.…”

Post-traumatic growth trajectories among frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A three-wave follow-up study in mainland China

“…Recently, PTG has been examined in various groups in adverse contexts, including frontline HCWs responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare providers in public health facilities in Kosovo, with over half of the doctors and nurses had been infected with COVID-19, showed lower level of PTG ( M = 47.13) than frontline nurses ( M = 70.53) in designated hospitals in China ( 13 , 14 ). The level of PTG varies with the characteristics of different groups, like culture, work experience, social support or resilience ( 12 , 15 ).…”

The Impact of Information About COVID-19 on the Endocrine Stress System and Cognitive Distortions

“…As it has been demonstrated in research on trauma and in post-disaster mental health, that negative psychological effects are not always present, and that traumatic events can occasionally lead to positive emotional states and growth 49 . Thus, it has been studied that through the constructs of resilience, post-traumatic growth (PTG) and, coping strategies, the human being has also a faculty to cope with horrific situations and to recover, more or less quickly, from trauma such as terrorism, natural disaster and even pandemics 50 51 52 53 . As a result, it is probable these strategies may have partially relieved stress and maintained active coping resources in our sample of participants during the pandemic period.…”