COVID-19 STRESS, BURNOUT AND COPING STRATEGIES: STUDY OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS IN TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS

Abstract

The corona virus disease which started in Wuhan City Hubei Province China become a pandemic, affecting the physical, social and psychological well-being of general population especially healthcare professionals who are highly vulnerable to be stressed and burnt-out. This study aimed to explore the stress and burnout feelings among HCPs and also the effectiveness of coping strategies practiced during this outbreak to protect their mental health. In 323 healthcare professionals of different tertiary care hospitals, a quantitative cross-sectional research design was used to investigate the proposed variables and the data was collected through a questionnaire by convenience sampling. Among the respondents 140 were doctors (physicians and surgeons), 30 medical technologist and 153 paramedics (technicians and nurses). The data was analyzed using SPSS version 26.0. The results of this study show that adjusting the attitude to face covid- 19 pandemic positively is most effective amongst personal coping strategies while appropriate schedule of shift and leader‟s support are most potent administrative interventions to protect the HCPs during this outbreak. This study shows that the administrative coping strategies are more effective than personal coping strategies to decrease the stress and burnout among HCPs during pandemic crisis. The outcome of this study will be beneficial to healthcare organizations to develop programmes for mitigation of stress and burnout among HCPs during pandemics.