Hall Charlotte E, Brooks Samantha K, Potts Henry W W, Greenberg Neil, Weston Dale
Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, London, SE5 9RJ, UK.
Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, UK.
BMC Psychol. 2024 Aug 7;12(1):429. doi: 10.1186/s40359-024-01921-4.
Working on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with increased risk to mental health and wellbeing in multiple occupations and contexts. The current study aimed to provide an insight into the rate of probable mental health problems amongst United Kingdom (UK) Government employees who contributed to the COVID-19 response whilst working from home, and to ascertain what factors and constructs, if any, influence mental health and wellbeing in the sample population.
This paper reports on the findings from two studies completed by UK Government employees. Study 1: A cross-sectional online survey, containing standardised and validated measures of common mental health disorders of staff who actively contributed to the COVID-19 response from their own homes. Binary logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with mental health outcomes. Study 2: A secondary data analysis of cross-sectional survey data collected across three timepoints (May, June, and August) in 2020 focusing on the wellbeing of employees who worked from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Study 1: 17.9% of participants met the threshold criteria for a probable moderate anxiety disorder, moderate depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Younger, less resilient, less productive individuals, with lower personal wellbeing and less enjoyment of working from home, were more likely to present with poorer mental health. Study 2: Found lower wellbeing was consistently associated with having less opportunities to look after one's physical and mental health, and having unsupportive line managers and colleagues.
It is important to ensure UK Government employees' psychological needs are met whilst working from home and responding to enhanced incidents. It is recommended that workplaces should be seeking to continually build and improve employee resilience (e.g., through opportunities to increase social ties and support networks), essentially ensuring employees have necessary resources and skills to support themselves and others.
在新冠疫情期间身处一线工作，在多个职业和环境中都与心理健康和幸福面临的风险增加有关。当前研究旨在深入了解在居家工作期间为应对新冠疫情做出贡献的英国政府雇员中可能存在的心理健康问题发生率，并确定样本人群中哪些因素和结构（如果有的话）会影响心理健康和幸福。
本文报告了英国政府雇员完成的两项研究的结果。研究1：一项横断面在线调查，包含对在家中积极参与新冠疫情应对工作的员工常见心理健康障碍的标准化和经过验证的测量指标。采用二元逻辑回归来评估与心理健康结果相关的因素。研究2：对2020年三个时间点（5月、6月和8月）收集的横断面调查数据进行二次数据分析，重点关注新冠疫情期间居家工作的员工的幸福感。
研究1：17.9%的参与者符合可能患有中度焦虑症、中度抑郁症或创伤后应激障碍的阈值标准。年龄较小、复原力较低、生产力较低、个人幸福感较低且不太享受居家工作的人，更有可能出现较差的心理健康状况。研究2：发现幸福感较低一直与照顾自己身心健康的机会较少、直属经理和同事不支持有关。
在居家工作并应对突发事件时，确保英国政府雇员的心理需求得到满足非常重要。建议工作场所应寻求持续建立和提高员工的复原力（例如，通过增加社交联系和支持网络的机会），从根本上确保员工拥有支持自己和他人的必要资源和技能。
