Trojak Robert M, Lenger Melanie, Birner Armin, Maget Alexander, Dalkner Nina, Lang Jorgos N, Fellendorf Frederike T, Ratzenhofer Michaela, Schönthaler Elena M D, Fleischmann Eva, Bengesser Susanne A, Queissner Robert, Platzer Martina, Tmava-Berisha Adelina, Reininghaus Eva Z
Clinical Division of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Medical University Graz, 8036 Graz, Austria.
J Clin Med. 2023 Aug 4;12(15):5129. doi: 10.3390/jcm12155129.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, workplaces in the medical field experienced changes. Non-frontline workers in the health sector (WHS) were in many cases allowed to work from home (WFH). Changes in work locations have affected the perception of productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic perception. Studies regarding this research field are rare for WHS. The aim of the present study was to investigate the perception of productivity and its impact on symptoms of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second objective was to assess the implications for post-pandemic work settings such as WFH or work scenarios in hospitals during pandemics.
At three points in time during the COVID-19 pandemic (t1; = 161: April 2020, t2; = 1598 winter 2020/2021, t3; = 1879 winter 2021/2022), an online survey of WHS (e.g., medical doctors, nurses, scientific staff) in Austria concerning their productivity in their current workplace (pre- and post-pandemic) was conducted. The online survey included questions about the perceptions of productivity changes (i.e., perceptions of lower, equal, and higher productivity, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic) in different work settings (e.g., working in a hospital or working from home), as well as standardized questionnaires like the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), assessing symptoms of depression in WHS.
χ tests showed that WHS working in hospitals experienced significantly fewer fluctuations in their perceptions of productivity than WHS working from home. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that WHS with a lower perception of productivity tended to have higher self-assessed depressive symptoms.
The possibility of remaining working in the hospital in stressful scenarios like the COVID-19 pandemic might stabilize the feeling of productivity. Moreover, productivity is associated with self-assessed depressive symptoms. Hence, looking into the reasons behind this discrepancy between WHS in hospitals and those working from home might help to improve the home office modality and to create better structures, which are related to symptoms of depression.
由于新冠疫情，医疗领域的工作场所发生了变化。在很多情况下，卫生部门的非一线工作人员被允许在家工作。与疫情前相比，工作地点的变化影响了人们在新冠疫情期间对工作效率的认知。针对卫生部门工作人员在这一研究领域的相关研究较少。本研究的目的是调查新冠疫情期间工作效率的认知情况及其对抑郁症状的影响。第二个目标是评估对疫情后工作环境的影响，如在家工作或疫情期间医院的工作场景。
在新冠疫情期间的三个时间点（t1；n = 161：2020年4月，t2；n = 1598：2020/2021年冬季，t3；n = 1879：2021/2022年冬季），对奥地利的卫生部门工作人员（如医生、护士、科研人员）进行了一项关于其在当前工作场所（疫情前和疫情后）工作效率的在线调查。在线调查包括关于在不同工作环境（如在医院工作或在家工作）中对工作效率变化的认知问题（即对新冠疫情前和期间工作效率较低、相同和较高的认知），以及像患者健康问卷（PHQ - 9）这样的标准化问卷，用于评估卫生部门工作人员的抑郁症状。
卡方检验表明，在医院工作的卫生部门工作人员在工作效率认知上的波动明显少于在家工作的人员。方差分析表明，工作效率认知较低的卫生部门工作人员往往有更高的自我评估抑郁症状。
在新冠疫情这样的压力情景下能够继续在医院工作，可能会稳定工作效率感。此外，工作效率与自我评估的抑郁症状有关。因此，探究医院卫生部门工作人员和在家工作人员之间这种差异背后的原因，可能有助于改善居家办公模式并建立更好的结构，这与抑郁症状有关。
