Stress beliefs moderate the impact of COVID‐19 related work stress on depressive, anxiety and distress symptoms in health care workers

Health care workers are at increased risk for mental health issues due to high psychological and physical job demands. According to a recent study, stress beliefs (i.e., believing stress to be detrimental to one's health) might influence physicians' mental health in response to a naturalis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Stress and health 2024-08, Vol.40 (4), p.e3410-n/a
Main Authors: Laferton, Johannes A. C., Schiller, Saskia, Conrad, Daniela, Fischer, Dorothea, Zimmermann‐Viehoff, Frank
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
COVID-19
depression
Health care
health care workers
Medical personnel
Mental disorders
Mental health
Occupational stress
Pandemics
stress
stress beliefs
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Summary:Health care workers are at increased risk for mental health issues due to high psychological and physical job demands. According to a recent study, stress beliefs (i.e., believing stress to be detrimental to one's health) might influence physicians' mental health in response to a naturalistic stressor (COVID‐19 hospital working conditions). Due to a small sample size and high alpha error inflation, the suggested association needs to be interpreted with caution. The current study aims to replicate those findings in a larger sample. A cross‐sectional survey among N = 418 (64.1% female; Median age = 30–39 years) physicians and nurses of a large German medical centre was conducted during the COVID‐19 pandemic (May/June 2021). Perception of pandemic related increase of work stress was assessed via self‐report. Stress beliefs were assessed with the Beliefs About Stress Scale, and mental health symptoms were assessed with the 21‐item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Stress beliefs moderated the association between increased work stress and mental health symptoms. Increased work stress was associated with increased depressive, anxiety and distress symptoms only in health care workers with medium (simple slope = 2.22, p 
ISSN:1532-3005
1532-2998
1532-2998
DOI:10.1002/smi.3410