Co-VIDA: the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on health workers [COVID-19]
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Co-VIDA: A digital wellbeing tool to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on NHS healthcare professionals.
IRAS ID
283920
Contact name
James Gilleen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Roehampton
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
The World Health Organisation has recently declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic (Coronavirus disease 2019 Situation Report ). The rapid transmission rates and clinical impact on patients’ health have brought national health systems and its health workers under unprecedented burden raising anxiety, stress, and depression and reducing their well-being. This is critical as evidence suggests worsening of mental health in health workers reduces quality of care they provide and also promotes absenteeism or even resignations. Changes in mental health wellbeing during pandemics may be linked to specific risk or protective factors - and there is intrinsic value in understanding these. Recent work from China on health workers revealed elevated anxiety, depression, insomnia and trauma – however given the key differences in Chinese and UK health systems, and shortfalls in that study suggest new research should urgently be done in the UK to understand the impact of COVID on NHS and non-NHS health workers. We will conduct a large online survey (completed via phone or computer) in which NHS and non-NHS health workers rate their anxiety, depression, mood, and trauma etc. The severity of these symptoms at baseline will be determined and critically how these have changed since before COVID; and in a follow-up analysis, how these change further as the pandemic evolves. Associations with putative risk and protective factors will be quantified. Understanding the psychological impact of pandemics on health workers, as well as its risk and protective factors, can help to guide strategies for responding to mental health sequelae in this and future epidemics, may protect health workers, and in turn protect the quality of care received by patients.
REC name
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REC reference
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