Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 7;19(15):9722.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159722.

Psychological Distress in South African Healthcare Workers Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Associations and Mitigating Factors

Hsin-Ling Lee  1 , Kerry S Wilson  2   3 , Colleen Bernstein  4 , Nisha Naicker  2   5 , Annalee Yassi  1 , Jerry M Spiegel  1
Affiliations

Psychological Distress in South African Healthcare Workers Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Associations and Mitigating Factors

Hsin-Ling Lee et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

While the global COVID-19 pandemic has been widely acknowledged to affect the mental health of health care workers (HCWs), attention to measures that protect those on the front lines of health outbreak response has been limited. In this cross-sectional study, we examine workplace contextual factors associated with how psychological distress was experienced in a South African setting where a severe first wave was being experienced with the objective of identifying factors that can protect against HCWs experiencing negative impacts. Consistent with mounting literature on mental health effects, we found a high degree of psychological distress (57.4% above the General Health Questionnaire cut-off value) and a strong association between perceived risks associated with the presence of COVID-19 in the healthcare workplace and psychological distress (adjusted OR = 2.35, p < 0.01). Our research indicates that both training (adjusted OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.21−0.81) and the reported presence of supportive workplace relationships (adjusted OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.27−0.97) were associated with positive outcomes. This evidence that workplace resilience can be reinforced to better prepare for the onset of similar outbreaks in the future suggests that pursuit of further research into specific interventions to improve resilience is well merited.

Keywords: COVID-19; health care workers; job stress; practice; psychological distress; risk perception; training; workplace management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The sponsors had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, writing of the study or decision of publishing the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Contextualizing workplace stress and HCWs psychological distress.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO Announces COVID-19 Outbreak a Pandemic. [(accessed on 19 January 2022)]. Available online: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus....
    1. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. [(accessed on 18 April 2022)]. Available online: https://covid19.who.int/
    1. Minister Zweli Mkhize Confirms 31 more Coronavirus COVID-19 Cases in South Africa. [(accessed on 19 January 2022)]; Available online: https://www.gov.za/speeches/dr-zweli-mkhize-confirms-116-more-coronaviru....
    1. Statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Measures to Combat COVID-19 Epidemic. [(accessed on 19 January 2022)]; Available online: https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/press-statements/statement-president-cy....
    1. Lai J., Ma S., Wang Y., Cai Z., Hu J., Wei N., Wu J., Du H., Chen T., Li R., et al. Factors Associated with Mental Health Outcomes among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019. JAMA Netw. Open. 2020;3:e203976. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding