Khoo Vicky Poh Hoay, Ting Rachel Sing-Kiat, Wang Xinli, Luo Yuanshan, Seeley Janet, Ong Jason J, Zhao Min, Morsillo Julie, Su Chunyan, Fu Xiaoxing, Zhang Lei
China-Australia Joint Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, China.
School of Arts and Social Sciences, Eastern College Australia, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2021 Dec 9;12:773510. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.773510. eCollection 2021.
Though many literatures documented burnout and occupational hazard among healthcare workers and frontliners during pandemic, not many adopted a systemic approach to look at the resilience among this population. Another under-studied population was the large numbers of global healthcare workers who have been deployed to tackle the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic in the less resourceful regions. We investigated both the mental wellbeing risk and protective factors of a deployed healthcare workers (DHWs) team in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak during 2020. A consensual qualitative research approach was adopted with 25 DHWs from H province through semi-structured interviews after 3 months of deployment period. Inductive-Deductive thematic coding with self-reflexivity revealed multi-layered risk and protective factors for DHWs at the COVID-19 frontline. Intensive working schedule and high-risk environment, compounded by unfamiliar work setting and colleagues; local culture adaptation; isolation from usual social circle, strained the DHWs. Meanwhile, reciprocal relationships and "familial relatedness" with patients and colleagues; organizational support to the DHWs and their immediate families back home, formed crucial wellbeing resources in sustaining the DHWs. The dynamic and dialectical relationships between risk and protective factors embedded in multiple layers of relational contexts could be mapped into a socio-ecological framework. Our multidisciplinary study highlights the unique social connectedness between patient-DHWs; within DHWs team; between deploying hospital and DHWs; and between DHWs and the local partners. We recommend five organizational strategies as mental health promotion and capacity building for DHWs to build a resilient network and prevent burnout at the disaster frontline.
尽管许多文献记录了疫情期间医护人员和一线工作者的职业倦怠和职业危害，但很少有人采用系统的方法来研究这一人群的复原力。另一个研究不足的群体是大量被派往资源匮乏地区应对新冠疫情危机的全球医护人员。我们调查了2020年疫情爆发中心武汉一支外派医护人员（DHWs）团队的心理健康风险和保护因素。在部署3个月后，我们采用共识定性研究方法，通过半结构化访谈对来自H省的25名外派医护人员进行了研究。通过具有自我反思性的归纳-演绎主题编码，揭示了新冠疫情一线外派医护人员的多层次风险和保护因素。密集的工作时间表和高风险环境，再加上工作环境和同事陌生；当地文化适应问题；与平常社交圈隔绝，给外派医护人员带来了压力。与此同时，与患者和同事的相互关系以及“家人般的亲近感”；组织对外派医护人员及其家乡直系亲属的支持，构成了维持外派医护人员身心健康的关键资源。嵌入多层关系背景中的风险和保护因素之间的动态辩证关系可以映射到一个社会生态框架中。我们的多学科研究突出了患者与外派医护人员之间；外派医护人员团队内部；派出医院与外派医护人员之间；以及外派医护人员与当地合作伙伴之间独特的社会联系。我们建议采取五项组织策略，作为外派医护人员心理健康促进和能力建设措施，以建立一个有复原力的网络，防止在灾难前线出现职业倦怠。
