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Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Jennifer Pink, Nicola Gray Orcid Logo, Chris O’Connor, James Knowles, Nicola J. Simkiss, Robert J. Snowden

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Volume: 94, Issue: 4, Pages: 789 - 807

Swansea University Authors: Nicola Gray Orcid Logo, James Knowles

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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/joop.12364

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, first responders and health care workers faced elevated virus-related risks through prolonged contacts with the public. Research suggests that these workers already experienced lower levels of psychological well-being linked to occupational risks. Thus, the pandemic’s i...

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Published in: Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
ISSN: 0963-1798 2044-8325
Published: Wiley 2021
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57617
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first_indexed 2021-08-14T17:59:18Z
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spelling 2021-11-02T15:47:11.1467904 v2 57617 2021-08-14 Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic d3dfb6fa4b6e057dd587f5e9f28a581f 0000-0003-3849-8118 Nicola Gray Nicola Gray true false 2f9c4d5f7bf6a16611e7f94df4cfe5bd James Knowles James Knowles true false 2021-08-14 HPS During the COVID-19 pandemic, first responders and health care workers faced elevated virus-related risks through prolonged contacts with the public. Research suggests that these workers already experienced lower levels of psychological well-being linked to occupational risks. Thus, the pandemic’s impact might have particularly affected mental health in these groups. This paper analysed data from a large-scale Welsh population study (N = 12,989) from June to July 2020. Levels of psychological distress were compared across various occupations, including police, fire and rescue, and NHS health care workers. Resilience was also indexed, and its role considered as a protective factor for psychological distress. Surprisingly, health care workers reported lower distress levels than the general population. Further, fire and rescue and police groups had lower distress than most groups and significantly higher resilience. Within police officers, higher resilience levels were protective for distress. Fire and rescue workers were half as likely as others to report distress, even accounting for demographic factors and resilience. The findings offer an optimistic view of psychological resilience in these critical occupations. They illustrate potential benefits to one’s mental health of playing a crucial societal role during crises and reiterate the importance of enhancing resilience within groups who encounter high-risk situations daily. Journal Article Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 94 4 789 807 Wiley 0963-1798 2044-8325 COVID-19; first responders; health care workers; mental wellbeing; pandemic; psychological distress; resilience 1 12 2021 2021-12-01 10.1111/joop.12364 COLLEGE NANME Psychology COLLEGE CODE HPS Swansea University 2021-11-02T15:47:11.1467904 2021-08-14T18:52:25.7258638 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Psychology Jennifer Pink 1 Nicola Gray 0000-0003-3849-8118 2 Chris O’Connor 3 James Knowles 4 Nicola J. Simkiss 5 Robert J. Snowden 6 57617__20622__21f4634deeae48658706cf5889d52e03.pdf joop.12364-published article-13August2021.pdf 2021-08-14T18:58:31.0075664 Output 785421 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2021 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
title Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic
spellingShingle Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic
Nicola Gray
James Knowles
title_short Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic
title_full Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic
title_fullStr Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic
title_sort Psychological distress and resilience in first responders and health care workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic
author_id_str_mv d3dfb6fa4b6e057dd587f5e9f28a581f
2f9c4d5f7bf6a16611e7f94df4cfe5bd
author_id_fullname_str_mv d3dfb6fa4b6e057dd587f5e9f28a581f_***_Nicola Gray
2f9c4d5f7bf6a16611e7f94df4cfe5bd_***_James Knowles
author Nicola Gray
James Knowles
author2 Jennifer Pink
Nicola Gray
Chris O’Connor
James Knowles
Nicola J. Simkiss
Robert J. Snowden
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
container_volume 94
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container_start_page 789
publishDate 2021
institution Swansea University
issn 0963-1798
2044-8325
doi_str_mv 10.1111/joop.12364
publisher Wiley
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Psychology{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Psychology
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description During the COVID-19 pandemic, first responders and health care workers faced elevated virus-related risks through prolonged contacts with the public. Research suggests that these workers already experienced lower levels of psychological well-being linked to occupational risks. Thus, the pandemic’s impact might have particularly affected mental health in these groups. This paper analysed data from a large-scale Welsh population study (N = 12,989) from June to July 2020. Levels of psychological distress were compared across various occupations, including police, fire and rescue, and NHS health care workers. Resilience was also indexed, and its role considered as a protective factor for psychological distress. Surprisingly, health care workers reported lower distress levels than the general population. Further, fire and rescue and police groups had lower distress than most groups and significantly higher resilience. Within police officers, higher resilience levels were protective for distress. Fire and rescue workers were half as likely as others to report distress, even accounting for demographic factors and resilience. The findings offer an optimistic view of psychological resilience in these critical occupations. They illustrate potential benefits to one’s mental health of playing a crucial societal role during crises and reiterate the importance of enhancing resilience within groups who encounter high-risk situations daily.
published_date 2021-12-01T04:13:29Z
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