Ethical and psychosocial considerations for hospital personnel in the Covid-19 crisis: Moral injury and resilience

This study aims at investigating the nature of resilience and stress experience of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirteen healthcare workers from Italian and Austrian hospitals specifically dealing with COVID-19 patients during the first phase of the pandemic were interviewed. Da...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-04, Vol.16 (4), p.e0249609
Main Authors: Kreh, Alexander, Brancaleoni, Rachele, Magalini, Sabina Chiara, Chieffo, Daniela Pia Rosaria, Flad, Barbara, Ellebrecht, Nils, Juen, Barbara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to information
Anxieties
Anxiety
Austria
Biology and Life Sciences
Burnout, Professional - psychology
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - psychology
Disease transmission
Engineering and Technology
Epidemics
Ethical aspects
Ethics
Female
Health aspects
Health care
Humans
Infections
Injuries
Insomnia
Interviews as Topic
Italy
Job stress
Male
Medical personnel
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental depression
Mental health
Moral injury
Morals
Outbreaks
Pandemics
People and Places
Personal protective equipment
Personnel
Personnel, Hospital - psychology
Post traumatic stress disorder
Professional ethics
Psychological aspects
Psychosocial Support Systems
Public health
Quarantine
Resilience (Personality trait)
Resilience, Psychological
Social Sciences
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Swine flu
Viral diseases
Viruses
Workers
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Description
Summary:This study aims at investigating the nature of resilience and stress experience of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirteen healthcare workers from Italian and Austrian hospitals specifically dealing with COVID-19 patients during the first phase of the pandemic were interviewed. Data was analysed using grounded theory methodology. Psychosocial effects on stress experience, stressors and resilience factors were identified. We generated three hypotheses. Hypothesis one is that moral distress and moral injury are main stressors experienced by healthcare workers. Hypothesis two states that organisational resilience plays an important part in how healthcare workers experience the crisis. Organisational justice and decentralized decision making are essential elements of staff wellbeing. Hypothesis three refers to effective psychosocial support: Basic on scene psychosocial support based on the Hobfoll principles given by trusted and well-known mental health professionals and peers in an integrated approach works best during the pandemic.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0249609