Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Aug 10;18(8):e0277392. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277392. eCollection 2023.
Within the context of the novel coronavirus pandemic and new challenges to a resource-constrained public healthcare system, many healthcare workers in South Africa have faced numerous stressors that have compromised their mental health. While the current literature on COVID-19 in South Africa highlights the widespread psychosocial stress experienced by healthcare workers during the pandemic, little is known about the coping strategies utilized to continue service delivery and maintain one's mental health and well-being during this ongoing public health emergency. In this study, we sought to explore the coping strategies used by healthcare workers employed in the public psychiatric care system in southern Gauteng, South Africa during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Psychiatric healthcare workers (n = 55) employed in three tertiary public hospitals and two specialized psychiatric facilities participated in in-depth interviews between July 2020 and March 2021. We found that coping strategies spanned multi-level and multi-systemic efforts. Intrapersonal, interpersonal, material, and structural coping were mapped across individual, family, and hospital systems. The most commonly utilized coping strategies included positive mindsets and reappraisal, social support systems, and COVID-19 specific protections. Findings also highlighted the contextual and interconnected nature of coping. Healthcare workers applied multiple coping strategies to combat the negative mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Better understanding these strategies, contexts in which they are employed, and how they interact can be used to develop evidence-based interventions to support healthcare workers experiencing healthcare-related stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
在新型冠状病毒大流行的背景下，资源有限的公共卫生系统面临新的挑战，许多南非的医护人员面临着许多压力源，这些压力源损害了他们的心理健康。虽然目前关于南非 COVID-19 的文献强调了在大流行期间医护人员普遍经历的心理社会压力，但对于在这一持续的公共卫生紧急情况下，为了继续提供服务并维持自己的身心健康而使用的应对策略却知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们试图探讨在新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间，在南非豪登省南部公立精神病保健系统工作的医护人员使用的应对策略。2020 年 7 月至 2021 年 3 月期间，三家三级公立医院和两家专门的精神病院的 55 名精神病医护人员参与了深入访谈。我们发现，应对策略涵盖了多层次和多系统的努力。个人、人际、物质和结构应对策略涵盖了个人、家庭和医院系统。最常使用的应对策略包括积极的心态和重新评估、社会支持系统和 COVID-19 特定保护。研究结果还强调了应对的背景和相互关联的性质。医护人员采用了多种应对策略来应对 COVID-19 大流行对心理健康的负面影响。更好地理解这些策略、它们的使用背景以及它们之间的相互作用，可以用来制定基于证据的干预措施，以支持在 COVID-19 大流行期间经历医疗相关压力源的医护人员。
