The Role of Coping in the Wellbeing and Work-Related Quality of Life of UK Health and Social Care Workers during COVID-19

Paula McFadden, Jana Ross, John Moriarty, John Mallett, Heike Schroder, Jermaine Ravalier, Jill Manthorpe, Denise Currie, Jaclyn Harron and Patricia Gillen
Additional contact information
Paula McFadden: School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Magee Campus, Ulster University, Londonderry BT48 7JL, UK
Jana Ross: School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Magee Campus, Ulster University, Londonderry BT48 7JL, UK
John Moriarty: School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast, 69-71 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL, UK
John Mallett: School of Psychology, Coleraine Campus, Ulster University, Cromore Road, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK
Heike Schroder: Queen’s Management School, Queen’s University Belfast, Riddel Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5EE, UK
Jermaine Ravalier: School of Science, Bath Spa University, Newton Park, Newton St Loe, Bath BA2 9BN, UK
Jill Manthorpe: NIHR Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London, London, 22 Kingsway, Holborn, London WC2B 6LE, UK
Denise Currie: Queen’s Management School, Queen’s University Belfast, Riddel Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5EE, UK
Jaclyn Harron: Independent Researcher, Derry BT48 8RS, UK
Patricia Gillen: School of Nursing, Jordanstown Campus, Ulster University, Shore Road, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic in early 2020. Due to the rapid spread of the virus and limited availability of effective treatments, health and social care systems worldwide quickly became overwhelmed. Such stressful circumstances are likely to have negative impacts on health and social care workers’ wellbeing. The current study examined the relationship between coping strategies and wellbeing and quality of working life in nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, social care workers and social workers who worked in health and social care in the UK during its first wave of COVID-19. Data were collected using an anonymous online survey ( N = 3425), and regression analyses were used to examine the associations of coping strategies and demographic characteristics with staff wellbeing and quality of working life. The results showed that positive coping strategies, particularly active coping and help-seeking, were associated with higher wellbeing and better quality of working life. Negative coping strategies, such as avoidance, were risk factors for low wellbeing and worse quality of working life. The results point to the importance of organizational and management support during stressful times, which could include psycho-education and training about active coping and might take the form of workshops designed to equip staff with better coping skills.

Keywords: health and social care; coping; quality of working life; wellbeing; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/815/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/815/ (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:2:p:815-:d:482822

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 ().