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
. 2023 Dec;48(6):963-969.
doi: 10.1007/s10900-023-01282-w. Epub 2023 Sep 20.

A Resilience Program for Hospital Security Officers During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using a Community Engagement Model

Zorina Costello  1   2 , Katheryn Roberson-Miranda  3   4   5   6 , Scarlett Ho  1   2   7 , Jonathan M DePierro  2   7 , Sydney Starkweather  2   7 , Craig L Katz  2   7   8   9 , Vanshdeep Sharma  1   2   7 , Deborah B Marin  1   2   7
Affiliations

A Resilience Program for Hospital Security Officers During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using a Community Engagement Model

Zorina Costello et al. J Community Health. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Security officers in health systems are subject to high levels of stress and current support interventions do not necessarily target their needs. To address this gap, a resilience center at a major urban tertiary care hospital utilized community engagement principles to adapt and implement resilience and mental health awareness workshops, which were informed by initial piloting. The program consisted of twelve short briefings in which officers were provided psychoeducation on psychological first aid and adaptive coping. The program reached 107 security officers (89.5% men, 95.2% people of color); both qualitative and quantitative feedback indicated a generally positive reception. Further efforts to support security officers are warranted given their high exposure to patient crises and under-acknowledgement as frontline workers in healthcare.

Keywords: Community engagement; Resiliency; Security officers; Well-being.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest J.M.D. receives book royalties from Cambridge University Press and payments related to an editorial role with Springer Press. J.M.D., C.L.K., D.B.M, and V.S. are named on a patent application for a digital resilience building intervention, a technology that has yet to be licensed. The remaining authors report no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Security officer responses on post-briefing feedback survey (N = 71–73)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alberto RS, Apolinar DD, Tomboc JMB, Ignacio C Jr., Lugay P, & PIE AE. (2022). The relationship of demographic factors to the mental health of security guards and janitors in the healthcare industry. [Conference proceedings] International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, Nsukka, Nigeria. https://ieomsociety.org/proceedings/2022nigeria/376.pdf
    1. World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak: Rights, roles and responsibilities of health workers, including key considerations for occupational safety and health. Available online at: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-rights-roles-re...
    1. Blackler L, Scharf AE, Masciale JN, et al. (2021). Staff Experiences at a New York City Medical Center during the Spring peak of the Covid-19 pandemic: A qualitative study. Res Sq. 10.21203/rs.3.rs-268807/v1. - DOI
    1. Feingold JH, Peccoralo L, Chan CC, et al. (2021). Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Frontline Health Care Workers during the Pandemic Surge in New York City. Chronic Stress (Thousand Oaks), 5, 2470547020977891. 10.1177/2470547020977891. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Seto MC, Rodrigues NC, Ham E, Kirsh B, & Hilton NZ (2020). Post-traumatic stress disorder, Depression, anxiety symptoms and help seeking in Psychiatric Staff: Trouble de stress post-traumatique, depression, symptomes d’anxiete et recherche d’aide chez le personnel psychiatrique. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 65(8), 577–583. 10.1177/0706743720916356. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources