PLoS ONE (Jan 2021)

Surviving SARS and living through COVID-19: Healthcare worker mental health outcomes and insights for coping.

  • Rima Styra,
  • Laura Hawryluck,
  • Allison Mc Geer,
  • Michelle Dimas,
  • Jack Sheen,
  • Peter Giacobbe,
  • Neil Dattani,
  • Gianni Lorello,
  • Valeria E Rac,
  • Troy Francis,
  • Peter E Wu,
  • Wing-Si Luk,
  • Enoch Ng,
  • Jeya Nadarajah,
  • Kaila Wingrove,
  • Wayne L Gold

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258893
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 11
p. e0258893

Abstract

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ObjectiveExplore how previous work during the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak affects the psychological response of clinical and non-clinical healthcare workers (HCWs) to the current COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA cross-sectional, multi-centered hospital online survey of HCWs in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. Mental health outcomes of HCWs who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic and the SARS outbreak were assessed using Impact of Events-Revised scale (IES-R), Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).ResultsAmong 3852 participants, moderate/severe scores for symptoms of post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (50.2%), anxiety (24.6%), and depression (31.5%) were observed among HCWs. Work during the 2003 SARS outbreak was reported by 1116 respondents (29.1%), who had lower scores for symptoms of PTSD (P = .002), anxiety (P ConclusionPsychological distress was observed in both clinical and non-clinical HCWs, with no impact from previous SARS work experience. As the pandemic continues, increasing psychological and team support may decrease the mental health impacts.