Conducting research in Radiation Oncology remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: Coping with isolation
Introduction: With the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals have been forced to follow strict social isolation guidelines. While crucial to control the pandemic, isolation might have a significant impact on productivity and mental health. Especially for researchers working in healthcare, the current situa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405630820300550 |
| _version_ | 1818671191735402496 |
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| author | Jennifer Dhont Marialaura Di Tella Ludwig Dubois Marianne Aznar Steven Petit Mateusz Spałek Luca Boldrini Pierfrancesco Franco Jenny Bertholet |
| author_facet | Jennifer Dhont Marialaura Di Tella Ludwig Dubois Marianne Aznar Steven Petit Mateusz Spałek Luca Boldrini Pierfrancesco Franco Jenny Bertholet |
| author_sort | Jennifer Dhont |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: With the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals have been forced to follow strict social isolation guidelines. While crucial to control the pandemic, isolation might have a significant impact on productivity and mental health. Especially for researchers working in healthcare, the current situation is complex. We therefore carried out a survey amongst researchers in the field of radiation oncology to gain insights on the impact of social isolation and working from home and to guide future work. Materials and methods: An online survey was conducted between March 27th and April 5th, 2020. The first part contained 14 questions intended to capture an overview of the specific aspects related to research while in isolation. The second (optional) part of the questionnaire was the validated Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), a self-reported measure used to assess levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results: From 543 survey participants, 48.8% reported to work full-time from home. The impact on perceived productivity, with 71.2% of participants feeling less productive, caused 58% of participants to feel some level of guilt.Compared to normative data, relatively high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms were recorded for the 335 participants who filled out the HADS questionnaire. Group comparisons found the presence of a supportive institutional program as the sole factor of statistical significance in both anxiety and depressive symptom levels. People having to work full-time on location showed higher depressive symptom levels than those working from home. Anxiety scores were negatively correlated with the number of research years. Conclusion: Results of the survey showed there is a non-negligible impact on both productivity and mental health. As the radiation oncology research community was forced to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, lessons can be learned to face future adverse situations but also to improve work-life balance in general. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T07:20:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5cf054c40d7d4ad2a2619a8de3b408fe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-6308 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T07:20:05Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5cf054c40d7d4ad2a2619a8de3b408fe2022-12-21T21:58:47ZengElsevierClinical and Translational Radiation Oncology2405-63082020-09-01245359Conducting research in Radiation Oncology remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: Coping with isolationJennifer Dhont0Marialaura Di Tella1Ludwig Dubois2Marianne Aznar3Steven Petit4Mateusz Spałek5Luca Boldrini6Pierfrancesco Franco7Jenny Bertholet8Department of Electronics and Informatics (ETRO), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; Imec, Leuven, Belgium; Corresponding author at: Department of Electronics and Informatics (ETRO), VUB, Pleinlaan 2, BE-1050 Brussels, Belgium.Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, ItalyThe M-Lab, Department of Precision Medicine, GROW School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) Young Committee, Brussels, BelgiumDivision of Cancer Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, and Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKEuropean Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) Young Committee, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, the NetherlandsEuropean Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) Young Committee, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Soft Tissue/Bone Sarcoma and Melanoma, Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, PolandFondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, ItalyEuropean Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) Young Committee, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Oncology, Radiation Oncology, University of Turin, Turin, ItalyEuropean Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) Young Committee, Brussels, Belgium; Division of Medical Radiation Physics, Department of Radiation Oncology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, CH 3010 Bern, SwitzerlandIntroduction: With the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals have been forced to follow strict social isolation guidelines. While crucial to control the pandemic, isolation might have a significant impact on productivity and mental health. Especially for researchers working in healthcare, the current situation is complex. We therefore carried out a survey amongst researchers in the field of radiation oncology to gain insights on the impact of social isolation and working from home and to guide future work. Materials and methods: An online survey was conducted between March 27th and April 5th, 2020. The first part contained 14 questions intended to capture an overview of the specific aspects related to research while in isolation. The second (optional) part of the questionnaire was the validated Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), a self-reported measure used to assess levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results: From 543 survey participants, 48.8% reported to work full-time from home. The impact on perceived productivity, with 71.2% of participants feeling less productive, caused 58% of participants to feel some level of guilt.Compared to normative data, relatively high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms were recorded for the 335 participants who filled out the HADS questionnaire. Group comparisons found the presence of a supportive institutional program as the sole factor of statistical significance in both anxiety and depressive symptom levels. People having to work full-time on location showed higher depressive symptom levels than those working from home. Anxiety scores were negatively correlated with the number of research years. Conclusion: Results of the survey showed there is a non-negligible impact on both productivity and mental health. As the radiation oncology research community was forced to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, lessons can be learned to face future adverse situations but also to improve work-life balance in general.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405630820300550COVID-19IsolationMental healthHADSResearch |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer Dhont Marialaura Di Tella Ludwig Dubois Marianne Aznar Steven Petit Mateusz Spałek Luca Boldrini Pierfrancesco Franco Jenny Bertholet Conducting research in Radiation Oncology remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: Coping with isolation Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology COVID-19 Isolation Mental health HADS Research |
| title | Conducting research in Radiation Oncology remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: Coping with isolation |
| title_full | Conducting research in Radiation Oncology remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: Coping with isolation |
| title_fullStr | Conducting research in Radiation Oncology remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: Coping with isolation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Conducting research in Radiation Oncology remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: Coping with isolation |
| title_short | Conducting research in Radiation Oncology remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: Coping with isolation |
| title_sort | conducting research in radiation oncology remotely during the covid 19 pandemic coping with isolation |
| topic | COVID-19 Isolation Mental health HADS Research |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405630820300550 |
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