Teamworking in Healthcare during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Method Study

Sabrina Anjara, Robert Fox, Lisa Rogers, Aoife De Brún and Eilish McAuliffe
Additional contact information
Sabrina Anjara: UCD Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Education, and Innovation in Health Systems (UCD IRIS), Health Sciences Centre, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
Robert Fox: UCD Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Education, and Innovation in Health Systems (UCD IRIS), Health Sciences Centre, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
Lisa Rogers: UCD Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Education, and Innovation in Health Systems (UCD IRIS), Health Sciences Centre, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
Aoife De Brún: UCD Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Education, and Innovation in Health Systems (UCD IRIS), Health Sciences Centre, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
Eilish McAuliffe: UCD Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Education, and Innovation in Health Systems (UCD IRIS), Health Sciences Centre, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: The widespread impact of COVID-19 on healthcare has demanded new ways of working across many organisation types and many forms of healthcare delivery while at the same time endeavouring to place minimal, or no, additional burden on already strained healthcare teams. This is a cross-sectional mixed-method study which captured the experiences of teamwork during the COVID-19 pandemic contributing to successful collaboration. We hypothesised that work engagement and psychological safety separately contribute to collective leadership and organisational citizenship behaviours. Participants were healthcare staff on active duty during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland ( n = 152) who responded to our social media (Twitter) invitation to participate in this study. Survey and free-text responses were collected through an online platform. Structural equation modelling examined the relationships between work engagement and psychological safety, and collective leadership and OCBs. Open text responses relating to experiences of teamworking during the pandemic were analysed for latent themes. From the survey data, the structural model demonstrated excellent statistical fit indicating that psychological safety, but not work engagement, was predictive of collective leadership and OCBs. From the qualitative data, two key themes were generated: (1) Contrasting experiences of working in a team during the pandemic; and (2) The pandemic response: a tipping point for burnout. This study offers a valuable starting point to explore the factors driving change and the shift to more collective ways of working observed in response to COVID-19. Future studies should use longitudinal data to capture the temporal relationship of these variables which could be moderated by prolonged pressure to healthcare staff during the pandemic.

Keywords: collective leadership; COVID-19; teamwork; psychological safety; work engagement; organisational citizenship; mixed methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10371/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10371/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10371-:d:648561

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().