Abstract
Background
No sector was spared from the devastations of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which subjected health workers to unrivalled distressing experiences owing to strained health systems. Despite documented evidence that COVID-19 exacerbated health workers’ mental health challenges in many parts of the world, there are limited qualitative data on how mental health of health workers in Windhoek, were affected. This study explored how the direct care of patients infected with COVID-19 affected the mental wellness of health workers in Windhoek.
Methods
This was a qualitative study using a grounded theory design to purposively recruit and interview health workers until data saturation, which was reached at 21 interviews. The interviews were conducted in English face-to-face, digitally recorded (with participants’ consent), transcribed word-for-word and manually analysed using inductive thematic analysis.
Results
Participants included three medical doctors, nine nurses, three physiotherapists, and six caregivers. Our analysis produced five main themes and twelve subthemes: (i) nature of participants’ COVID-19 experiences (negative experiences and positive experiences); (ii) triggers of mental health challenges (psychological distress, work-related psychosocial factors, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and moral distress); (iii) stress responses (iv) coping strategies (building and nurturing resilience, fulfilment of career obligation and maladaptive coping response); and (v) deterrents to mental health-seeking (stigma and fear of breach of confidentiality, prioritising patient-care over self-care and ignorance, participants’ unawareness of mental health services)
Conclusion
This study provides important insights into the mental health challenges faced by health workers while caring for patients infected with COVID-19 in Windhoek, Namibia. These lessons should be considered when developing psychosocial programmes for staff working in similar contexts.