Motivating nurses' coworker-directed helping behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic: Role of managerial humour and nurses' power distance orientation.

AIMS: The aims of the research are to investigate (1) the influence of managerial humour on nurses' coworker-directed helping behaviour, (2) the mediating effect of nurses' feelings of energy between managerial humour and nurses' coworker-directed helping behaviour and (3) the moderating effect of nurses' power distance orientation. DESIGN: This is a quantitative study. A three-wave survey design was conducted to collect data from direct managers to nurse dyads. METHODS: The random sampling method was employed. Data were collected from the supervisor to subordinate dyad at three time points during the first half of 2021. A total of 235 paired data sets of nurses and their direct managers were collected from a large state-owned Chinese hospital. We used hierarchical regression analyses via SPSS 22.0 software to examine the hypotheses. RESULTS: (1) Managerial humour can foster nurses' coworker-directed helping behaviour via accumulating their feelings of energy. (2) Power distance orientation moderates the effect of managerial humour on feelings of energy as well as the indirect effect of managerial humour on nurses' coworker-directed helping behaviour via feelings of energy, in a way that these effects are stronger when nurses have higher (vs. lower) level of power distance orientation. CONCLUSION: Managerial humour can increase nurses' feelings of energy, which in turn, motivates them to help their coworkers. Nurses' power distance orientation is an important boundary condition that constrains managerial humour effectiveness. IMPACT: Hospital managers could use more humour during their interactions with nurses because managerial humour can promote nurses' feelings of energy and coworker-directed helping behaviour. Hospitals can take humour into account during managers' selection and training to improve management effectiveness. Managers in eastern countries should use more humour during their interactions with followers. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Nurses and their direct managers from a large state-owned Chinese hospital contributed to this study by completing the survey.

Using first-person narratives about healthcare workers and people who are incarcerated to motivate helping behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

RATIONAL: Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic requires large-scale cooperation and behavior change on an unprecedented scale. Individuals can help reduce the burden of the pandemic by participating in behaviors that benefit people whose life circumstances make them especially vulnerable. OBJECTIVE: We tested the effect of reading narrative (i.e., story-like) as opposed to expository (i.e., factual recounting) messages on beliefs about protecting others in groups vulnerable during the pandemic through increased message transportation (i.e. immersing the reader into the story). Additionally, we examined if reading narratives, as opposed to expository messages, increased intentions to engage in prosocial behaviors that benefit these groups through increased transportation. METHODS: The study used a between-subjects design where participants either read narrative or expository messages about the experiences of people who were at greater exposure to SARS-CoV-2 due to social and political factors, namely people who were incarcerated or working in healthcare during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: In line with pre-registered hypotheses, participants in the narrative (vs. expository) condition reported greater transportation into the message. We also observed indirect effects of narrative (vs. expository) messages, through increased message transportation, on: (1) beliefs that by physical distancing, one can protect vulnerable people (2) beliefs that members of the target groups (i.e., healthcare workers and people who are incarcerated), were vulnerable during the pandemic, (3) intentions to engage in prosocial behaviors that help family and friends, and (4) intentions to engage in prosocial behaviors that help members of vulnerable groups. CONCLUSION: Together these results suggest that narratives can be used to motivate prosocial action during the COVID-19 pandemic to the extent that the narratives elicit transportation.

#Caremongering: A community-led social movement to address health and social needs during COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: To combat social distancing and stay-at-home restrictions due to COVID-19, Canadian communities began a Facebook social media movement, #Caremongering, to support vulnerable individuals in their communities. Little research has examined the spread and use of #Caremongering to address community health and social needs. OBJECTIVES: We examined the rate at which #Caremongering grew across Canada, the main ways the groups were used, and differences in use by membership size and activity. METHODS: We searched Facebook Groups using the term "Caremongering" combined with the names of the largest population centres in every province and territory in Canada. We extracted available Facebook analytics on all the groups found, restricted to public groups that operated in English. We further conducted a content analysis of themes from postings in 30 groups using purposive sampling. Posted content was qualitatively analyzed to determine consistent themes across the groups and between those with smaller and larger member numbers. RESULTS: The search of Facebook groups across 185 cities yielded 130 unique groups, including groups from all 13 provinces and territories in Canada. Total membership across all groups as of May 4, 2020 was 194,879. The vast majority were formed within days of the global pandemic announcement, two months prior. There were four major themes identified: personal protective equipment, offer, need, and information. Few differences were found between how large and small groups were being used. CONCLUSIONS: The #Caremongering Facebook groups spread across the entire nation in a matter of days, engaging hundreds of thousands of Canadians. Social media appears to be a useful tool for spreading community-led solutions to address health and social needs.

Experiences of Home Health Care Workers in New York City During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis.

Importance: Home health care workers care for community-dwelling adults and play an important role in supporting patients with confirmed and suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who remain at home. These workers are mostly middle-aged women and racial/ethnic minorities who typically earn low wages. Despite being integral to patient care, these workers are often neglected by the medical community and society at large; thus, developing a health care system capable of addressing the COVID-19 crisis and future pandemics requires a better understanding of the experiences of home health care workers. Objective: To understand the experiences of home health care workers caring for patients in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design, Setting, and Participants: From March to April 2020, a qualitative study with 1-to-1 semistructured interviews of 33 home health care workers in New York City was conducted in partnership with the 1199SEIU Home Care Industry Education Fund, a benefit fund of the 1199 Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers East, the largest health care union in the US. Purposeful sampling was used to identify and recruit home health care workers. Main Outcomes and Measures: Audio-recorded interviews were professionally transcribed and analyzed using grounded theory. Major themes and subthemes were identified. Results: In total, 33 home health care workers employed by 24 unique home care agencies across the 5 boroughs of New York City participated. Participants had a mean (SD) age of 47.6 (14.0) years, 32 (97%) were women, 21 (64%) were Black participants, and 6 (18%) were Hispanic participants. Five major themes emerged: home health care workers (1) were on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic but felt invisible; (2) reported a heightened risk for virus transmission; (3) received varying amounts of information, supplies, and training from their home care agencies; (4) relied on nonagency alternatives for support, including information and supplies; and (5) were forced to make difficult trade-offs in their work and personal lives. Conclusions and Relevance: In this qualitative analysis, home health care workers reported providing frontline essential care, often at personal risk, during the COVID-19 pandemic. They experienced challenges that exacerbated the inequities they face as a marginalized workforce. Interventions and policies to better support these frontline health care professionals are urgently needed.

Leveraging the power of mutual aid, coalitions, leadership, and advocacy during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the norms, patterns, and power structures in the United States that privilege certain groups of people over others. This article describes COVID-19 as an unprecedented catalyst for social transformation that underscores the need for multilevel and cross-sectoral solutions to address systemic changes to improve health equity for all. The authors propose that the American Psychological Association (APA) and its membership can initiate systemic change, in part, by (a) supporting mutual aid organizations that prioritize the needs of vulnerable communities; (b) leveraging the efforts and strides APA psychologists have already made within the association, in the profession, and in policymaking to attend to the health equity and the needs of marginalized communities; (c) building capacity for collaboration between a broad coalition of health associations, health experts, and policymakers to address the physio-psycho-socioeconomic needs of disadvantaged communities; and (d) increasing the APA's participation in the formulation and implementation of an advocacy agenda that prioritizes the physical and psychological health of the communities whose lives are most endangered by COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).