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Longitudinal Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Stress and Occupational Well-Being of Mental Health Professionals: An International Study
Kogan, Cary S Garcia-Pacheco, José A Rebello, Tahilia J Montoya, Madeline I Robles, Rebeca Khoury, Brigitte Kulygina, Maya Matsumoto, Chihiro Huang, Jingjing Elena Medina-Mora, María
Kogan, Cary S
Garcia-Pacheco, José A
Rebello, Tahilia J
Montoya, Madeline I
Robles, Rebeca
Khoury, Brigitte
Kulygina, Maya
Matsumoto, Chihiro
Huang, Jingjing
Elena Medina-Mora, María
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Abstract
Background
Increased levels of occupational stress among health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic have been documented. Few studies have examined the effects of the pandemic on mental health professionals despite the heightened demand for their services.
Method
A multilingual, longitudinal, global survey was conducted at 3 time points during the pandemic among members of the World Health Organization’s Global Clinical Practice Network. A total of 786 Global Clinical Practice Network members from 86 countries responded to surveys assessing occupational distress, well-being, and posttraumatic stress symptoms.
Results
On average, respondents’ well-being deteriorated across time while their posttraumatic stress symptoms showed a modest improvement. Linear growth models indicated that being female, being younger, providing face-to-face health services to patients with COVID-19, having been a target of COVID-related violence, and living in a low- or middle-income country or a country with a higher COVID-19 death rate conveyed greater risk for poor well-being and higher level of stress symptoms over time. Growth mixed modeling identified trajectories of occupational well-being and stress symptoms. Most mental health professions demonstrated no impact to well-being; maintained moderate, nonclinical levels of stress symptoms; or showed improvements after an initial period of difficulty. However, some participant groups exhibited deteriorating well-being approaching the clinical threshold (25.8%) and persistently high and clinically significant levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms (19.6%) over time.
Conclusions
This study indicates that although most mental health professionals exhibited stable, positive well-being and low stress symptoms during the pandemic, a substantial minority of an already burdened global mental health workforce experienced persistently poor or deteriorating psychological status over the course of the pandemic.
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Date
2023-08-02
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Oxford University Press
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Keywords
COVID-19, Mental health workforce, Occupational well-being, Posttraumatic stress symptoms, Longitudinal design
Citation
Kogan CS, Garcia-Pacheco JA, Rebello TJ, Montoya MI, Robles R, Khoury B, Kulygina M, Matsumoto C, Huang J, Medina-Mora ME, Gureje O, Stein DJ, Sharan P, Gaebel W, Kanba S, Andrews HF, Roberts MC, Pike KM, Zhao M, Ayuso-Mateos JL, Sadowska K, Maré K, Denny K, Reed GM. Longitudinal Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Stress and Occupational Well-Being of Mental Health Professionals: An International Study. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2023 Oct 19;26(10):747-760. doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyad046. PMID: 37531283; PMCID: PMC10586039