Comparison of psychopathology, purpose in life and moral courage between nursing home and hospital healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic deeply affected healthcare workers, although the impact may have differed according to different workplace contexts. The aim of this current research was to compare the psychopathology presented by hospital versus nursing home healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyse the predictive role of purpose in life and moral courage in the appearance of psychopathology. This was an observational, cross-sectional study carried out on a sample of 108 healthcare workers, 54 each from a hospital or nursing homes, who were recruited during the 5 and 6th waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Various self-reported scales were used to assess anxiety, depression, acute/post-traumatic stress disorder, drug and alcohol abuse, burnout, purpose in life, and moral courage. Compared to the hospital healthcare workers, nursing home healthcare workers had higher scores and a higher prevalence of anxiety (74.1% vs. 42%), depression (40.7% vs. 14.8%), and post-traumatic stress disorder (55.6% vs. 25.9). In the overall sample, purpose in life was a protective factor against psychopathology (OR = 0.54) and burnout (OR = 0.48); moral courage was a protective factor against depression (OR = 0.47) and acute stress (OR = 0.45); and exposure of family/friends to SARS-CoV-2 was a risk factor for acute stress (OR = 2.24), post-traumatic stress disorder (OR = 1.33), and higher burnout depersonalisation subscale scores (OR = 1.84). In conclusion, the increased presence of psychopathology in nursing home healthcare workers may be influenced by workplace and occupational contexts, personal factors such as exposure of family/friends to SARS-CoV-2, or internal dimensions such as purpose in life and moral courage. This knowledge could be useful for understanding how a future epidemic or pandemic might affect the mental health of healthcare workers in different labour contexts.