Mental health patterns during COVID-19 in emergency medical services (EMS)
International Journal of Emergency Services
ISSN: 2047-0894
Article publication date: 3 December 2021
Issue publication date: 9 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore patterns of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel's mental health, regarding their levels of anxiety, depression, stress, COVID-19 anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and well-being; and to explore variables that contribute to these patterns, among sociodemographic/professional and COVID-19 experience variables.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants were 214 EMS personnel, who answered the Patient-Health Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, COVID-19 Anxiety Scale, Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory, Well-Being Questionnaire and COVID-19 related questions.
Findings
EMS personnel showed an adequate psychological adjustment during COVID-19. Two clusters/patterns were found: the poorly (34%) and the well (66%) psychologically-adjusted. Personnel's age, COVID-19 fear and workplace security measures' adequacy contributed to which pattern they were more likely to belong to.
Research limitations/implications
Despite being cross-sectional and not controlling for pre-COVID-19 data, this study adds to the COVID-19 literature. Findings call for the need to explore: other COVID-19 fears; how personnel perceive workplace security measures; COVID-19 valid instruments; pre-COVID-19 data; and mental health patterns with different rescuers.
Practical implications
Findings explored EMS personnel's patterns of mental health during the COVID-19, as well as its covariates. Results allow to better prepare emergency management, which can develop prevention strategies focused on older professionals, COVID-19 related fears and how personnel assess security measures.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the scarce literature focused on COVID-19 mental health patterns instead of focussing on isolated mental health variables, as well as what contributes to these patterns. Moreover, it is one of the few studies that focused on EMS personnel rather than hospital staff.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge all the EMS personnel who participated in the study, as well as the Reviewers' suggestions that allowed improving this paper.
Funding: This research was supported by a grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/135619/2018) and by the Center for Psychology at the University of Porto (UIDB/00050/2020).
Citation
Monteiro Fonseca, S., Faria, S., Cunha, S., Silva, M., Ramos, M.J., Azevedo, G., Campos, R., Barbosa, A.R. and Queirós, C. (2022), "Mental health patterns during COVID-19 in emergency medical services (EMS)", International Journal of Emergency Services, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 193-206. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJES-08-2020-0052
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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