The COVID-19 pandemic led to psychosocial risk stressors and mental health challenges for workers across many settings, with the human health and social care activities (HeSCare) sector believed to be one of the most highly affected. Previous attempts to evaluate the HeSCare sector’s burden of mental health problems resulting from work during the COVID-19 pandemic include studies conducted in very heterogeneous settings and geographical regions, often outside Europe. Due to contextual differences, these previous studies, which primarily include evidence from China and developing countries, may only partially apply to the European Union (EU). This underscores the need for region-specific assessments of the burden of mental health problems and the identification of helpful occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions applicable to the EU context regarding the prevention and management of psychosocial risks and mental health in the HeSCare sector in the context of pandemics. This report evaluates the prevalence of work-related mental health conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in the HeSCare sector in the EU. We present available good practices, interventions and recommendations from the COVID-19 pandemic period, to address work-related psychosocial risk factors and mental health in this sector. The aim of this detailed assessment of both the burden of the problem and the proposed workplace initiatives to tackle it is to provide comprehensive and helpful guidance to policymakers and practitioners that will increase resilience and improve the preparedness of the sector for future health emergencies.
Authors
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, EU body or agency, Roqué i Figuls, Marta, Serra Pujadas, Consol, Madrid, Eva, Rivera, Flor, Metzendorf, María-Inti, Ramada, José María, Alonso-Coello, Pablo
Related Organizations
- Catalogue number
- TE-01-24-003-EN-N
- Citation
- European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Roqué i Figuls, M., Serra Pujadas, C., Madrid, E., Rivera, F. et al., Mental health challenges in the EU health and social care sector during COVID-19 – Strategies for prevention and management – Literature review , Publications Office of the European Union, 2024, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2802/3243001
- DOI
- https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2802/3243001
- ISBN
- 978-92-9402-337-7
- Pages
- 166
- Published in
- Belgium
- Themes
- Workers' health and safety
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents 3
- List of Tables 4
- List of Figures 4
- List of Acronyms 6
- Executive Summary 7
- 1 Introduction 11
- 1.1 Background 11
- 1.2 Objectives 12
- 2 Methodological approach 13
- 2.1 Systematic review of mental health outcomes 13
- 2.1.1 Specific objectives and framework 13
- 2.1.2 Research question and eligibility criteria 13
- 2.1.3 Search strategy 14
- 2.1.4 Study selection and evidence appraisal 14
- 2.1.5 Synthesis of the evidence 15
- 2.2 Identification of good practices and recommendations 16
- 2.2.1 Specific objectives and framework 16
- 2.2.2 Research question and eligibility criteria 16
- 2.2.3 Sources of information 17
- ▪ Literature searches: Grey literature and peer-reviewed publications 17
- ▪ Delphi strategy and direct contact with experts 18
- 3 Results 19
- 3.1 Systematic review 19
- 3.1.1 Literature search and screening process 19
- 3.1.2 Description of included studies 20
- 3.1.3 Quality appraisal of included studies 22
- 3.1.4 Overall prevalence of mental health conditions 22
- 3.1.5 Prevalence of mental health conditions by EU-country 24
- 3.1.6 Prevalence by selected subgroups of HeSCare workers 30
- ▪ Professional profiles 30
- ▪ Prevalence in frontline workers 36
- ▪ Prevalence by work setting 37
- ▪ Prevalence by sex or gender 38
- ▪ Prevalence by age 39
- 3.2 Good practices and recommendations 41
- 3.2.1 Identified sources of information 41
- 3.2.2 Results from the searches 41
- 3.2.3 Identified good practices and interventions 42
- 3.2.4 Selected examples of good practices 46
- 3.2.5 Recommendations 107
- 3.2.6 List of recommendations by scope 107
- 4 Discussion 115
- 4.1 Prevalence of adverse mental health outcomes in the EU 115
- 4.2 Identification of good practices / interventions and recommendations 116
- 5 Policy pointers for future action 118
- 6 Appendices 119
- Appendix A — Glossary of terms 119
- Appendix B — Literature search strings for MEDLINE and EMBASE 122
- Appendix C — Critical appraisal checklist from Joanna Brigs Institute 126
- Appendix D — Scales used to assess mental health outcomes 127
- Appendix E — Disaggregated data by burnout dimension 130
- Appendix F — Prevalence results by EU-country for all mental health conditions in the HeSCare sector 131
- Appendix G — Professional categories in the HeSCare sector reported by the included studies, grouped into 11 general professional categories 141
- Appendix H — Assessment of the certainty of evidence using GRADE 142
- Appendix I — Results of the first round of the Delphi consultation 144
- Appendix J — Additional sources of information identified in the Delphi consultation 148
- References 150
- Acknowledgements 165
