Worker stress high during pandemic, especially among healthcare workers, study finds

October 6 (UPI) – People’s stress levels have been high across the board since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but especially for healthcare workers, women and those 50 and under, a study released Wednesday by PLOS ONE.

When evaluating more than 10,000 adults in 44 countries, including the United States, during the first half of 2020, study participants scored up to 90 on the visual analog scale – a 0-100 scoring system designed to measure stress levels, data showed

Doctors and paramedics registered among the highest scores, above 90 on average, according to the researchers.

Compared to workers in other occupations, healthcare workers were more than twice as likely to score above 80 on the scale, with paramedics being 88% more likely to do so than doctors.

Across all occupations, women were about 80% more likely to register above 80 on the scale, while those aged 50 and under were 45% more likely to do so, they said.

“The pandemic has generated high levels of stress among workers,” study co-author Dr Sébastien Couarraze told UPI in an email.

“These levels have been particularly high for caregivers and in particular for paramedics,” said Couarraze, anesthesiologist at Toulouse University Hospital in France.

Previous research has documented high levels of work stress during the pandemic, even though many people were working from home.

Although healthcare professionals have been working on the “front line” of the pandemic, said Couarraze and colleagues, treating patients with COVID-19, people in other professions have said they feared the slowdown associated economic threat does not threaten their job security.

This is especially true in the United States compared to other wealthy countries, studies suggest.

For this study, Couarraze and colleagues used data from COVISTRESS, an international questionnaire distributed online that collected demographic and stress-related information during the pandemic.

They analyzed responses from more than 10,000 workers, including approximately 1,400 healthcare workers, 631 doctors and 748 paramedics who responded to the survey from January to June 2020.

The greater effects of pandemic-related stress on young working-age adults are likely explained by efforts to “ensure protection for older populations,” Couarraze said.

Based on their findings, continuing to monitor work-related stress, especially among healthcare workers, to plan for post-pandemic social services is crucial, the researchers said.

“There is a need to integrate stress management or stress learning programs” into workplaces, Couarraze said.