Coping strategies of Indian health workers during the second wave of COVID-19

Abstract

Frontline healthcare professionals worldwide have played a pivotal role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020. They have endured significant psychological distress and physical strain. In order to evaluate the coping mechanisms employed by healthcare workers during the second wave of COVID-19 in the Indian state of Rajasthan, a cross-sectional study was conducted at a district hospital operated by the Rajasthan government between August 2022 and October 2022. The study included 759 healthcare workers, encompassing doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, and administration staff. The participants were selected using a simple random sampling method and were provided with self-administered questionnaires to report their coping strategies, utilizing the Brief-COPE scale. Of the total participants, 270 (36%) were doctors, 325 (43%) were nurses, 146 (20%) were paramedical staff, and 18 (3%) were administration staff. Moreover, the study consisted of 375 (49%) male participants and 384 (51%) female participants. The participants identified three types of coping strategies: problem-focused, emotion-focused, and meaning-focused. Notably, problem-focused coping was the most frequently adopted strategy, chosen by 9% of the participants. Additionally, factors such as sex, marital status, job designation, shift type, shift duration, and level of experience demonstrated statistically significant associations with emotion-focused and problem-focused coping (p<0.05). The majority of participants reported employing problem-focused coping strategies frequently. Previous studies have also indicated that healthcare workers attempted to reorganize their services, utilized personal protective equipment, implemented effective sanitization methods, and adhered to patient safety protocols. Consequently, this study supports existing literature regarding the impact of the crisis on the well-being of healthcare workers and the coping mechanisms employed by this population.