Longitudinal assessment and determinants of short-term and longer-term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada
IntroductionPrevious research has demonstrated the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency on the wellbeing of healthcare workers. However, few research contributions reported a longitudinal evaluation of psychological distress and examined determinants of its duration and course over tim...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1112184/full |
| _version_ | 1797824116284194816 |
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| author | Filippo Rapisarda Nicolas Bergeron Nicolas Bergeron Marie-Michèle Dufour Stéphane Guay Stéphane Guay Stéphane Guay Steve Geoffrion Steve Geoffrion |
| author_facet | Filippo Rapisarda Nicolas Bergeron Nicolas Bergeron Marie-Michèle Dufour Stéphane Guay Stéphane Guay Stéphane Guay Steve Geoffrion Steve Geoffrion |
| author_sort | Filippo Rapisarda |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionPrevious research has demonstrated the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency on the wellbeing of healthcare workers. However, few research contributions reported a longitudinal evaluation of psychological distress and examined determinants of its duration and course over time. The present study aims to explore the impact of the pandemic emergency on HCWs mental health by adopting a longitudinal design and assessing mental health as combination of overlapping clinical symptoms (post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety).MethodsData were collected weekly through a mobile application during and after the first wave of COVID-19 in the province of Quebec, Canada, in 2020. Analysis was conducted on a final sample of 382 participants. Participants were grouped into “resilient” (RES) if they did not manifest clinical-level psychological distress during monitoring, “short-term distress” (STD) if distress exceeded the clinical threshold for 1–3 weeks, and longer-term distress (LTD) if it occurred for four or more weeks, even if not consecutively. Descriptive statistics for all variables were computed for each subgroup (RES, STD and LTD), and pairwise comparisons between each group for every descriptive variable were made using chi square statistics for categorical variables and t-test for continuous variables. Predictors of distress groups (STD and LTD vs RES) were assessed running multinomial hierarchical logistic regression models.ResultsIn our sample, almost two third (59.4%) HCWs did not manifest moderate or severe distress during the monitoring time. Short-term distress, mostly post-traumatic symptoms that lasted for less than 4 weeks, were the most common distress response, affecting almost one third of participants. Longer psychological distress occurred only in a smaller percentage (12.6%) of cases, as a combination of severe posttraumatic, depressive and anxiety symptoms. Perceived occupational stress was the most significant risk factor; moreover individual, peritraumatic work and family risk and protective factors, were likely to significantly affect the stress response.DiscussionResults tend to provide a more complex and resiliency-oriented representation of psychological distress compared to previous cross-sectional studies, but are in line with stress response studies. Findings allow us to better describe the profiles of distress response in STD and LTD groups. Participants that manifest short term distress experience acute stress reaction in which the interplay between personal, family and professional life events is associated with the stress response. Conversely, longer term distress response in HCWs presents a more complex mental health condition with an higher level of impairment and support needs compared to participants with short-term distress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T10:34:13Z |
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| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T10:34:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-9c39761131f34b768eda9f60b48b1b162023-05-18T07:28:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402023-05-011410.3389/fpsyt.2023.11121841112184Longitudinal assessment and determinants of short-term and longer-term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, CanadaFilippo Rapisarda0Nicolas Bergeron1Nicolas Bergeron2Marie-Michèle Dufour3Stéphane Guay4Stéphane Guay5Stéphane Guay6Steve Geoffrion7Steve Geoffrion8Research Centre, Institut universitaire en sant9́ mentale de Montréal (IUSMM), Montreal, QC, CanadaDépartement de psychiatrie et d'addictologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaResearch Centre, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaÉcole de psychoéducation, Faculté des arts et des sciences, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaResearch Centre, Institut universitaire en sant9́ mentale de Montréal (IUSMM), Montreal, QC, CanadaDépartement de psychiatrie et d'addictologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaÉcole de criminologie, Faculté des arts et des sciences, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaResearch Centre, Institut universitaire en sant9́ mentale de Montréal (IUSMM), Montreal, QC, CanadaÉcole de psychoéducation, Faculté des arts et des sciences, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaIntroductionPrevious research has demonstrated the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency on the wellbeing of healthcare workers. However, few research contributions reported a longitudinal evaluation of psychological distress and examined determinants of its duration and course over time. The present study aims to explore the impact of the pandemic emergency on HCWs mental health by adopting a longitudinal design and assessing mental health as combination of overlapping clinical symptoms (post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety).MethodsData were collected weekly through a mobile application during and after the first wave of COVID-19 in the province of Quebec, Canada, in 2020. Analysis was conducted on a final sample of 382 participants. Participants were grouped into “resilient” (RES) if they did not manifest clinical-level psychological distress during monitoring, “short-term distress” (STD) if distress exceeded the clinical threshold for 1–3 weeks, and longer-term distress (LTD) if it occurred for four or more weeks, even if not consecutively. Descriptive statistics for all variables were computed for each subgroup (RES, STD and LTD), and pairwise comparisons between each group for every descriptive variable were made using chi square statistics for categorical variables and t-test for continuous variables. Predictors of distress groups (STD and LTD vs RES) were assessed running multinomial hierarchical logistic regression models.ResultsIn our sample, almost two third (59.4%) HCWs did not manifest moderate or severe distress during the monitoring time. Short-term distress, mostly post-traumatic symptoms that lasted for less than 4 weeks, were the most common distress response, affecting almost one third of participants. Longer psychological distress occurred only in a smaller percentage (12.6%) of cases, as a combination of severe posttraumatic, depressive and anxiety symptoms. Perceived occupational stress was the most significant risk factor; moreover individual, peritraumatic work and family risk and protective factors, were likely to significantly affect the stress response.DiscussionResults tend to provide a more complex and resiliency-oriented representation of psychological distress compared to previous cross-sectional studies, but are in line with stress response studies. Findings allow us to better describe the profiles of distress response in STD and LTD groups. Participants that manifest short term distress experience acute stress reaction in which the interplay between personal, family and professional life events is associated with the stress response. Conversely, longer term distress response in HCWs presents a more complex mental health condition with an higher level of impairment and support needs compared to participants with short-term distress.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1112184/fullpsychological distressCOVID-19healthcare workers (HCWs)depressionanxietypost-traumatic stress |
| spellingShingle | Filippo Rapisarda Nicolas Bergeron Nicolas Bergeron Marie-Michèle Dufour Stéphane Guay Stéphane Guay Stéphane Guay Steve Geoffrion Steve Geoffrion Longitudinal assessment and determinants of short-term and longer-term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada Frontiers in Psychiatry psychological distress COVID-19 healthcare workers (HCWs) depression anxiety post-traumatic stress |
| title | Longitudinal assessment and determinants of short-term and longer-term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada |
| title_full | Longitudinal assessment and determinants of short-term and longer-term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada |
| title_fullStr | Longitudinal assessment and determinants of short-term and longer-term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Longitudinal assessment and determinants of short-term and longer-term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada |
| title_short | Longitudinal assessment and determinants of short-term and longer-term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada |
| title_sort | longitudinal assessment and determinants of short term and longer term psychological distress in a sample of healthcare workers during the covid 19 pandemic in quebec canada |
| topic | psychological distress COVID-19 healthcare workers (HCWs) depression anxiety post-traumatic stress |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1112184/full |
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