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Prioritizing the Mental Health and Well-Being of Healthcare Workers: An Urgent Global Public Health Priority

Influenced by studies of Cox and Howard (1990), Johnson and Hall (1988), and Karasek (1979), this model presents a causality linkage between job-demands, control, and support and workers’ well-being. Progress has been achieved in comprehending how job demands and available resources impact on mental health of employees. Although there is a significant amount of literature concerning labor and psychological issues encountered by healthcare Motivational interviewing for behavior change professionals, some significant gaps still remain which should be filled for a proper insight into hidden complexities, as well as viable treatment modalities. Healthcare workers encounter enormous challenges during extended and strenuous shifts that often lead to stress and burn-out (De Kock et al., 2021; Santabarbara et al., 2021; Toh et al., 2021). Knaak et al. also advocated for social contact approaches with HP in a non-typical provider-patient interaction, such as having PMI share about their lived experience of illness and recovery as well as their experiences in healthcare settings.

mental health in healthcare professionals

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mental health in healthcare professionals

In this sense, self-efficacy might only become “visible” at a certain initial level of challenge or stress. This aligns with previous stress research suggesting that self-efficacy can be a resource regarding stress-vulnerability, as individuals with higher self-efficacy are more likely to view challenges as manageable rather than threatening89,90. This may suggest that HCPs with higher resilience are less likely to register or report daily hassles, potentially reflecting differences in perception, attention, and/or cognitive appraisal. It adds to the growing evidence that targeting self-compassion could lead to favorable outcomes for both, self-compassion and self-care.

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mental health in healthcare professionals

This may not reflect the average HCP population, as HCPs were found to be at heightened risk for experiencing mental health problems3,4,5,102. As we initially collected data for testing an online resilience training program, we focused on healthy individuals for this training, excluding participants with high levels of mental burden (e.g., reporting suicidal ideation, receiving psychotherapy or psychiatric treatment). The workplace therefore seems to play a critical role in burnout, job satisfaction, and patient satisfaction, while in our data, individual resilience factors showed rather weak associations with burnout.

Lack of treatment experience and protective equipment, understaffing and work overload, and ethical dilemmas in allocating scarce resources to other patients who also needed help had deleterious effects on the mental health of healthcare workers. The study found that there were common mental health problems among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cai et al. (2020) surveyed 534 doctors, nurses and primary care providers in Hubei province and concluded that the stress levels of healthcare workers were extremely high during the COVID-19 pandemic. This can lead to a higher incidence of illnesses such as acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, psychosomatic disorders and substance use disorders in healthcare workers. Factors such as improper working conditions, insufficient personnel, lack of medical equipment and supply problems can negatively affect the mental health of healthcare workers.

After this training, I felt much more confident in supporting people showing signs of mental disorders or severe stress. This was exactly the kind of knowledge that primary healthcare had been lacking until then. Subsequently, I was invited to participate in the training sessions for the mental health program. Intervention strategies for dealing with violence or crises encountered by healthcare professionals.e. Intervention strategies for sleep-related issues among healthcare professionals.c.

mental health in healthcare professionals

Previous studies have emphasised the connection between associative stigma and burnout, dissatisfaction, and compassion fatigue, which negatively affects the way practitioners interact with PMI, jeopardizing the quality of care . Halter described it as nurses in the mental health field seen as “not real nurses”, a similar issue that was brought up by a psychiatrist in this study . Participants highlighted the issue of inadequate training in the mental health field, whereby many HP are thrust into the field without having adequate support.