Mental Health Support for Hospital Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Characteristics of the Services and Feedback from the Providers

French authorities created mental health support services to accompany HCWs during the pandemic. We aimed to obtain feedback from staff providing these mental health support services within French hospitals to identify positive and negative features and avenues for improvement. A mixed-methods study...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Healthcare (Basel) 2022-07, Vol.10 (7), p.1337
Main Authors: Loiseau, Mélanie, Ecarnot, Fiona, Meunier-Beillard, Nicolas, Laurent, Alexandra, Fournier, Alicia, François-Purssell, Irene, Binquet, Christine, Quenot, Jean-Pierre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Committees
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Epidemics
Feedback
health care workers
Intensive care
Mental disorders
Mental health
mental health support services
Pandemics
Professional ethics
Psychologists
Questionnaires
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Stress
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Summary:French authorities created mental health support services to accompany HCWs during the pandemic. We aimed to obtain feedback from staff providing these mental health support services within French hospitals to identify positive and negative features and avenues for improvement. A mixed-methods study was performed between 1 April and 30 June 2020. We contacted 77 centres to identify those providing mental health support services. We developed a questionnaire containing questions about the staff providing the service (quantitative part), with open questions to enable feedback from service providers (qualitative part). Of the 77 centres, 36 had mental health support services; 77.8% were created specifically for the epidemic. Services were staffed principally by psychologists, mainly used a telephone platform, and had a median opening time of 8 h/day. Thirty-seven professionals provided feedback, most aged 35-49 years. For 86.5%, it was their first time providing such support. Median self-reported comfort level was 8 (interquartiles 3-10), and 95% would do it again. Respondents reported (i) difficulties with work organisation, clinical situations, and lack of recognition and (ii) a desire for training. This study suggests that mental health support needs to be adapted to the needs of HCWs, both in terms of the content of the service and the timing of delivery.
ISSN:2227-9032
2227-9032
DOI:10.3390/healthcare10071337