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. 2025 Jul 23;13(15):1785.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare13151785.

Patterns of Distress and Supportive Resource Use by Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mahiya Habib  1 , Aaron Palachi  1   2 , Melissa B Korman  1   3 , Rosalie Steinberg  1   3 , Claudia Cocco  1 , Catherine Martin-Doto  4 , Andrea Tuka  5 , Xingshan Cao  1 , Mark Sinyor  1   3 , Janet Ellis  1   3
Affiliations

Patterns of Distress and Supportive Resource Use by Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mahiya Habib et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Healthcare workers (HCW) have increased the risk of occupational stress injuries and adverse mental health outcomes, which were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding HCW psychological distress patterns and help-seeking behaviors can inform responsive resource development that may mitigate negative outcomes in future crises. This paper provides insights on monthly trends in HCW distress and support utilization at a large Canadian hospital over a 14-month period. Methods: As part of a hospital-wide wellness initiative during COVID-19, the STEADY program emailed monthly confidential wellness assessments to hospital staff from April 2020 to May 2021. The assessments included screens for burnout, anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress, types of support accessed, and demographic information. Repeated cross-sectional data were summarized as monthly proportions and examined alongside longitudinal COVID-19 data. Results: A total of 2498 wellness assessments were submitted (M = ~168 monthly, range: 17-945). Overall, 67% of assessments had at least one positive screen for distress. Average positive screens were 44% for anxiety, 29% for depression, 31% for posttraumatic stress, and 53% for burnout. Despite high distress, most respondents used informal supports (e.g., family/friends), highlighting limited formal support use. Conclusions: HCWs experienced sustained high levels of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, with burnout remaining a predominant and persistent concern. The limited use of formal support services may indicate barriers to accessing these types of supports. Our findings underscore the need for accessible and acceptable mental health supports for HCW during prolonged crises.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; healthcare workers; mental health resources; occupational health; psychological distress.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no potential conflicts of interest to report. The manuscript has been approved by all authors and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The Sunnybrook Research Ethics Board confirmed that research ethics approval was not required for this quality improvement project.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportion of individual submissions with any one positive screen over time.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of positive screens for anxiety, depression, PTSD, and burnout over time.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Rates of COVID-19 activity in Ontario compared to the proportion of positive screens for anxiety, depression, PTSD, and burnout over time. Note: Average numbers of monthly positive COVID-19 cases were calculated based on data openly available from the Public Health Ontario website.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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