Factors associated with intent to stay in the profession: an exploratory cluster analysis across healthcare professions in Switzerland.

Retention issues are widespread within the health workforce. This cross-sectional study used data collected from 1707 healthcare professionals in 2022-23 to identify with k-means clustering groups of individuals sharing similar working experiences. These profiles were linked with varying levels of turnover intentions and a range of healthcare professions. While occupational therapists and paramedics reported in average better working conditions, registered nurses and intermediate caregivers reported the poorest experiences. In other clusters, salaries were high where work-life balance was low, and inversely. By learning from similarities and differences in the working conditions of diverse healthcare professionals, shared initiatives aimed at improving retention across professions can be facilitated.

Factors protecting Swiss nurses' health during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic reached Europe in early 2020 and impacted nurses over a prolonged period, notably causing heavy work overloads. Exposure to sources of stress in such situations is inevitable, which can put nurses' health at risk. The present study took a salutogenic approach to investigating nurses' health and the principal factors protecting it found in the literature (i.e., resilience, post-traumatic growth, social support, and certain organizational factors), as well as how those elements evolved from February 2021 to September 2022. METHODS: All nurses working at eight French-speaking Swiss hospitals who accepted to disseminate the study to their employees were invited to complete an online questionnaire at four time points (February 2021, September 2021, March 2022, and September 2022: T0, T1, T2, and T3, respectively) and respond to items measuring their health, factors protecting their health, and their perceived stress levels. Data were analyzed using random-intercept linear regression models. RESULTS: A cumulated total of 1013 responses were collected over all measurement points (625 responses at T0; 153 at T1; 146 at T2; 89 at T3). Results revealed that nurses' health had not changed significantly between measurements. However, their perceived stress levels, feelings of being supported by their management hierarchies, and belief that they had the means to deliver a high quality of work all diminished. At every measurement point, nurses' health was negatively associated with perceived stress and positively associated with resilience, perceived social support, and the belief that they were provided with the means to deliver a high quality of work. CONCLUSION: Despite the difficult conditions caused by the pandemic, the factors recognized as protective of nurses' health played their role. The lack of improvements in nurses' health in periods when the pandemic's effects lessened suggests that the pressure they were experiencing did not drop during these moments. This phenomenon may have been due to the need to clear backlogs in scheduled surgery and the work overloads caused by prolonged staff absences and nurses quitting the profession. Monitoring changes in nurses' health is thus crucial, as is establishing measures that promote factors protective of their health. Organizational factors influencing nurses' working conditions are also key and should not be neglected.

How socioeconomically disadvantaged people access, understand, appraise, and apply health information: A qualitative study exploring health literacy skills.

OBJECTIVES: Health literacy, or a person's competence to access, understand, appraise and apply health information, can be considered a mediating factor between socioeconomic characteristics and health disparities. Socioeconomically disadvantaged people in particular present with less health literacy skills. To develop targeted interventions tailored to their real needs, it is important to understand how they function and what difficulties they encounter when dealing with health information. The purpose of this study was to explore their experiences when accessing, understanding, appraising, and applying health information in their everyday lives. METHODS: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 socioeconomically disadvantaged adults living in the community in Switzerland (age range: 44-60 years old). RESULTS: Thematic analysis of the interviews yielded four themes, describing the health literacy processes of participants, related barriers, and compensatory strategies used: Financial insecurity triggers the need for health information; Pathway 1: Physicians as ideal (but expensive) interlocutors; Pathway 2: The internet as a suboptimal alternative; and Pathway 3: Relatives as a default resource. The progression of socioeconomically disadvantaged people in the health literacy process is like an 'obstacle course', with numerous steps taken backwards before they can develop compensatory strategies to overcome the barriers to obtaining health information. CONCLUSIONS: Financial deprivation seems to be the most important factor contributing to health literacy barriers. Appraising health information is the health literacy skill with which socioeconomically disadvantaged people struggle the most. Physician-based, individual skills-based, organizational, and policy-based interventions are needed to help them overcome their health literacy challenges.

The Effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid Training among Undergraduate Students in Switzerland: A Randomized Control Trial.

Half to three-fourths of mental disorders appear during adolescence or young adulthood, and the treatment gap is mainly due to lack of knowledge, lack of perceived need, and the stigmatization of mental illness. The aims of this study were to implement and evaluate a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training program among undergraduates. Participants were second-year students from two universities in the French-speaking region of Switzerland (N = 107), who were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 53) or control group (n = 54). The intervention group received a 12-h MHFA course. Online questionnaires were completed before the intervention (T0), and both 3 months (T1) and 12 months (T2) after the intervention in order to evaluate the participants' mental health knowledge, recognition of schizophrenia, and attitudes and behaviors towards mental illness. We used Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to examine the effects of intervention over time. After the MHFA course, the intervention group showed significantly increased basic knowledge and confidence helping others with mental illness and reduced stigmatization at both T1 and T2 compared to their baseline scores and compared to control groups. This suggests that the MHFA training program is effective and has significant short-term and long-term impacts, in terms of enhancing basic knowledge about mental health and improving attitudes towards mental illness among undergraduate students.

Workplace Wellbeing and Quality of Life Perceived by Portuguese Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Protective Factors and Stressors.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses were exposed to many stressors, which may have been associated with some mental health problems. However, most of the studies carried out on nurses' quality of life and workplace wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic took a pathogenic approach. Given that current scientific knowledge in this field presented too many gaps to properly inform preventive and therapeutic action, the aim of this study was to explore whether protective factors (resilience, perceived social support, and professional identification) and stressors (perceived stress and psychosocial risks in the workplace) influenced the quality of life and workplace wellbeing perceived by Portuguese nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data for this cross-sectional study was collected through online self-administered questionnaires. Linear regression models were used to analyze the relationships between variables. Results showed that perceived stress, resilience and job satisfaction were associated with quality of life and workplace wellbeing among Portuguese nurses. The study's findings could serve to inform health policy and should draw the attention of nursing managers to the needs and difficulties reported by nurses, to the importance of providing them with emotional support, and to the relevance of promoting a good work environment.

Preparing students to deal with the consequences of the workforce shortage among health professionals: a qualitative approach.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare is facing a shortage of qualified healthcare professionals. The pandemic has brought to light the fragile balance that affects all healthcare systems. Governments have realized that these systems and the professionals working in them need support at different levels to strengthen the retention of the workforce. Health professionals' education can play an important role in ensuring that new generations of workers have sound personal and professional competencies to successfully face the challenges of professional practice. These challenges are described in the literature, but the extent to which they are considered in health professionals' education is less clear. METHODS: This qualitative study compares the professional challenges and educational needs described in the literature with the current curricula for health professionals offered in Switzerland. Data were collected nationally through focus group interviews with 65% of Switzerland's directors of bachelor's and master's programs of health professions (nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, midwifery, nutrition and dietetics, osteopathy, radiologic medical imaging technology, health promotion and prevention, and health sciences). The data attained were analyzed using knowledge mapping. RESULTS: The results reveal a gap among education programs with regard to occupational health promotion and cultural diversity. Both topics are taught with a sole focus on patients, and students are expected to adopt similar strategies for their health promotion and stress management. Physicians are insufficiently involved in interprofessional education. The programs fail to enhance health professionals' political, economic and digital competencies. CONCLUSION: The results of this study offer clear guidance about what topics need to be integrated into curricula to improve health professionals' well-being at work and their preparedness to face daily professional challenges.

Protective Factors and Coping Styles Associated with Quality of Life during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of Hospital or Care Institution and Private Practice Nurses.

In France, nurses work either in hospitals and care institutions or in private practice, following physicians' prescriptions and taking care of patients at their homes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these populations of nurses were exposed to numerous sources of stress. The main objective of the present study was to identify the protective factors they mobilized to face the crisis and how these factors contributed to sustaining their quality of life (QoL). A cross-sectional study was conducted to answer these questions. Overall, 9898 French nurses participated in the study, providing demographic information and filling out QoL (WHOQOL-BREF), perceived stress (PSS-14), resilience (CD-RISC), social support (MSPSS), and coping style (BRIEF-COPE) questionnaires. The results revealed very few differences between the two groups of nurses, which is surprising given the drastically different contexts in which they practice. Social support and two coping strategies (positive reframing and acceptance) were associated with a high QoL, whereas perceived stress and four coping strategies (denial, blaming self, substance use, and behavioral disengagement) were associated with poor QoL. In the light of these results, we recommended promoting social support and coping strategies to help nurses cope during the pandemic.

Stressors, self-reported overall health, potential protective factors and the workplace well-being of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland: a longitudinal mixed-methods study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic was making a huge impact on Europe's healthcare systems in the spring of 2020, and most predictive models concurred that pandemic waves were in the offing. Most studies adopted a pathogenic approach to the subject; few used a salutogenic approach. These showed, however, that nurses can retain their health despite a pandemic by mobilising generalised resistance resources. Our study aims to understand how nurses working in Switzerland's hospitals protected their health and workplace well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating the moderating effects of the health resources they mobilised against the stressors inherent to the situation. The study aims to explore and describe the stressors and the resources nurses used to remain healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: We will use a concurrent mixed-methods panel design with qualitative analyses ancillary to quantitative analyses. Quantitative data will be collected using electronic questionnaires at four time points over 2 years. Qualitative data will be collected using focus groups. Nurses from Switzerland's two main linguistic regions who had direct, indirect or no contact with patients with COVID-19 will be invited to participate. The a priori sample size will be at least 3631 participants at T0 and 1852 at T4. Longitudinal structural equation modelling and knowledge mapping will be used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. The results derived from the two data types will then be compared and discussed using a side-by-side approach to determine whether they agree or disagree and how they complement each other to achieve our aims. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Nurses will receive an electronic informed consent form. The data collected will be stored on a secure server at the authors' institution. This research project was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Canton of Vaud (2020-02845).

Reliability, validity and relevance of needs assessment instruments for informal dementia caregivers: a psychometric systematic review protocol.

REVIEW QUESTION/OBJECTIVE: The objective of this psychometric review is to identify needs assessment instruments for informal dementia caregivers which are:More specifically, the aim is to present an overview and an evaluation of the available needs assessment instruments, including: i) their psychometrics (reliability and validity) when available, and ii) their relevance according to the instrument characteristics, namely, their purpose, application method, administration burden, number of items and domain structure.

Developing a Theoretical Framework Using a Nursing Perspective to Investigate Perceived Health in the "Sandwich Generation" Group.

Coexisting workloads from professional, household and family, and caregiving activities for frail parents expose middle-aged individuals, the so-called "Sandwich Generation", to potential health risks. Current trends suggest that this situation will continue or increase. Thus SG health promotion has become a nursing concern. Most existing research considers coexisting workloads a priori pathogenic. Most studies have examined the association of one, versus two, of these three activities with health. Few studies have used a nursing perspective. This article presents the development of a framework based on a nursing model. We integrated Siegrist's Effort-Reward Imbalance middle-range theory into "Neuman Systems Model". The latter was chosen for its salutogenic orientation, its attention to preventive nursing interventions and the opportunity it provides to simultaneously consider positive and negative perceptions of SG health and SG coexisting workloads. Finally, it facilitated a theoretical identification of health protective factors.

[The "sandwich generation" in Switzerland : a better understanding of factors linked with perceived health for health promotion]. / La Generation Sandwich en Suisse Romande: mieux comprendre les facteurs associés avec la santé perçue afin de mieux agir en promotion de la santé.

The so-called < Sandwich Generation > (SG) is characterized by concurrent and competing professional, familial, and informal caregiving workloads. These stressors pose potential health risks. However, the current knowledge about SG characteristics and perceived state of health are insufficient to allow occupational health nurses to develop evidence-based interventions designed for health promotion. We aimed to describe this population and examine the relationships between these coexisting workloads and their perceived health. This study is based on a descriptive, correlational design. Employees of a Swiss public administration completed an electronic questionnaire. Of 844 respondents, 23 % are SG members. Ages of frailed parents or parents-in-law, co-residence with the latters, children still living at home predict that employees could be members of the SG. Perceived physical health status of SG members is rated better than mental health status. The heterogeneity of SG is reflected in three clusters. Finally, physical health score is the only that differs from the other health scores adjusting for clusters and sex. This study provides a foundation for developing preventive interventions targeting the SG.