Adapting the Stress First Aid Model for Frontline Healthcare Workers during COVID-19

Mayer H. Bellehsen, Haley M. Cook (), Pooja Shaam, Daniella Burns, Peter D’Amico, Arielle Goldberg, Mary Beth McManus, Manish Sapra, Lily Thomas, Annmarie Wacha-Montes, George Zenzerovich, Patricia Watson, Richard J. Westphal and Rebecca M. Schwartz
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Mayer H. Bellehsen: Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience and Recovery at Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA
Haley M. Cook: Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience and Recovery at Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA
Pooja Shaam: Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience and Recovery at Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA
Daniella Burns: Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience and Recovery at Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA
Peter D’Amico: Department of Psychiatry, Zucker Hillside Hospital at Northwell Health, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USA
Arielle Goldberg: Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience and Recovery at Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA
Mary Beth McManus: Behavioral Health Service Line, Northwell Health, New York, NY 10022, USA
Manish Sapra: Department of Psychiatry, Zucker Hillside Hospital at Northwell Health, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USA
Lily Thomas: Institute for Nursing, Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY 11042, USA
Annmarie Wacha-Montes: Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience and Recovery at Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA
George Zenzerovich: Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience and Recovery at Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA
Patricia Watson: National Center for PTSD, White River Junction, VT 05009, USA
Richard J. Westphal: School of Nursing, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
Rebecca M. Schwartz: Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience and Recovery at Northwell Health, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: The coronavirus pandemic has generated and continues to create unprecedented demands on our healthcare systems. Healthcare workers (HCWs) face physical and psychological stresses caring for critically ill patients, including experiencing anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Nurses and nursing staff disproportionately experienced COVID-19-related psychological distress due to their vital role in infection mitigation and direct patient care. Therefore, there is a critical need to understand the short- and long-term impact of COVID-19 stress exposures on nursing staff wellbeing and to assess the impact of wellbeing programs aimed at supporting HCWs. To that end, the current study aims to evaluate an evidence-informed peer support stress reduction model, Stress First Aid (SFA), implemented across units within a psychiatric hospital in the New York City area during the pandemic. To examine the effectiveness of SFA, we measured stress, burnout, coping self-efficacy, resilience, and workplace support through self-report surveys completed by nurses and nursing staff over twelve months. The implementation of SFA across units has the potential to provide the workplace-level and individual-level skills necessary to reduce stress and promote resilience, which can be utilized and applied during waves of respiratory illness acuity or any other healthcare-related stressors among this population.

Keywords: Stress First Aid; nurses; COVID-19; resilience; burnout; stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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