Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Frontline Healthcare Workers Samantha So, Brian Edward Yu, Monali S. Malvankar-Mehta & Teng Qing Wang EJMH Vol 18 (2023) 1-22; https: //doi.org/10.5708/EJMH.18.2023.0003 Received: 9 March 2022; Accepted: 27 September 2022; Online: 28 February 2023 Section: Review Articles Download full text
Abstract
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a chronically stressful work environment for healthcare workers, increasing the negative psychological effects experienced.
Aims: The authors of this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on frontline healthcare workers’ mental health, using various psychological outcomes.
Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted up until June 30th, 2022 on MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Dissertations and Theses.
Results: This meta-analysis includes 22 cross-sectional studies with a total of 32,690 participants. Anxiety (ES = 0.23, CI: [0.18, 0.28]), depression (ES = 0.17, CI: [0.10, 0.24]), PTSD (ES = 0.28, CI: [0.08, 0.48]), and stress (ES = 0.35, CI: [0.17, 0.53]) was significantly prevalent among frontline healthcare workers.
Conclusions: Our results suggested that European healthcare workers were experiencing high psychological symptoms associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The monitoring of their psychological symptoms, preventative interventions, and treatments should be implemented to prevent, reduce, and treat the worsening of their mental health.
Keywords
COVID-19, healthcare workers, meta-analysis, systematic review, psychological impact
Corresponding author
Monali S. Malvankar-Mehta
Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada & Department of Ophthalmology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada & Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
Co-authors
Samantha So
Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7976-8618
Brian Edward Yu
Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8591-4762
Teng Qing Wang
Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8902-6797
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.