Frontline mental resilience: Lessons learned from the pandemic experience

The COVID-19 pandemic affected frontline Healthcare Workers (HCWs) immensely, subjecting them to extreme psychological distress. The current study assesses the burnout, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and resilience levels among HCWs and analyses the efficacy of institutional mental health interventions.

A cross-sectional longitudinal study design that combined quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews was employed. There were 500 HCWs from public hospitals, private hospitals, primary healthcare centres, and emergency response teams who took part. Validated measures included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), PTSD Checklist (PCL-5), and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, t-tests, and logistic regression were used in data analysis.

Psychological distress was common, with 42.5 % burnout, 35.2 % anxiety, 29.8 % depression, and 21.4 % PTSD. Long hours (OR = 1.85, p < 0.001), high patient volume (OR = 1.67, p < 0.001), and absence of PPE (OR = 1.52, p = 0.002) were major contributors, and robust workplace support (OR = 0.75, p = 0.037) was protective. Qualitative interviews revealed key themes, including persistent sleep disturbances, Mental Health Support, Emotional and Social consequences, Impact on relationships and fear of infecting family members.

HCWs experienced extreme psychological distress throughout the pandemic, which requires additional mental health policies, organizational support, and greater access to digital interventions.