Qualitative Investigation into the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers in Japan during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Yasuhiro Kotera, Akihiko Ozaki, Hirotomo Miyatake, Chie Tsunetoshi, Yoshitaka Nishikawa, Makoto Kosaka and Tetsuya Tanimoto
Additional contact information
Yasuhiro Kotera: School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2HA, UK
Akihiko Ozaki: Department of Breast Surgery, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki 972-8322, Japan
Hirotomo Miyatake: Orange Home-Care Clinic, Fukui 910-0018, Japan
Chie Tsunetoshi: Department of Community Health Nursing, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-1104, Japan
Yoshitaka Nishikawa: Department of Health Informatics, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
Makoto Kosaka: Orange Home-Care Clinic, Fukui 910-0018, Japan
Tetsuya Tanimoto: Medical Governance Research Institute, Tokyo 108-0074, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of healthcare workers in many countries including Japan. While many survey-based findings have reported the serious state of their wellbeing among healthcare workers, the first-hand experience of the mental health and coping in this population remains to be evaluated. Accordingly, this study aimed to appraise them using constructionist thematic analysis on semi-structured interviews attended by a purposive and snowball sample of 24 healthcare workers in Japan conducted in December 2020–January 2021. Four themes were identified: (1) increased stress and loneliness, (2) reduced coping strategies, (3) communication and acknowledgement as a mental health resource, and (4) understanding of self-care. Participants noted that the characteristics of Japanese work culture such as long hours, collectivism and hatarakigai (i.e., meaning in work) to explain these themes. These findings suggest that robust support at an organizational and individual level, capturing intrinsic values, are particularly important for this key workforce to cope with increased stress and loneliness, leading to better patient care.

Keywords: healthcare workers; Japan; mental health; COVID-19; coping; intrinsic rewards; self-care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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