Impact of Covid-19 on the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers: Predisposing factors, prevalence and supportive strategies

Abstract

The massive upsurge of hospitalizations and deaths in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic has placed an unprecedented strain on the psychological well-being of the healthcare workers (HCW) worldwide. The concern about being viewed as unfit for duty by employers or “mentally weak” was the primary reason given. In addition, a majority of HCWs insisted that improvements on the administrative front would have a better impact. An extensive literature review for this paper has been done through databases like Pubmed (Medline) and Google scholar to compile information from various sources. A study of the causative and exacerbating factors, corrective and preventative measures applied, and direct feedback from HCW reveals that much work is yet to be done to develop a satisfactory approach towards ensuring the mental wellbeing of one of the greatest assets in the fight against the pandemic.

(*The paper was presented at the 2nd Conference on Business Data Analytics: Innovation in emerging trends in management data analytics. Apeejay School of Management, Dwarka, Delhi, India. November 2021)