Since the start of the pandemic there have been many concerns raised about the wellbeing of frontline healthcare workers.
In January of this year, research by Kings College London found that many intensive care workers were experiencing severe symptoms of anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder after the first wave of COVID-19.
Even before the pandemic, people working in the emergency services and healthcare fields were three times more likely to have PTSD or depression symptoms than the general population.
In 2017, MQ funded a study by Dr Jennifer Wild from Oxford University, trialling a new intervention Called SHAPE Recovery, to help prevent PTSD from taking hold in healthcare workers. The results of this study have been highly encouraging.
"We have a recovery rate of about 90%. Staff who come into the programme with post-traumatic stress or depression, or often both of those difficulties, are recovering with six weeks of our wellbeing coaching.” Says Dr Wild.
"They're learning very active evidence-based tools to help break the link between triggers and past trauma, and tools that we have developed that are very effective for improving mood, so helping people recover from low mood and depression.
"We've also been able to demonstrate we can move somebody's trajectory - so if somebody has sub-threshold symptoms, so they don't have a full-blown diagnosis, by learning these tools it also helps to prevent the future development of post-traumatic stress or depression."
This study was originally just going to work with paramedics. However when COVID struck the Oxford team quickly adapted to expand the study for all frontline healthcare workers in hospitals. Now they are working with over 3,000 frontline healthcare workers across England and have been invited to work with 8000 London Ambulance employees and staff.
“The pandemic has intensified working conditions in hospitals and our healthcare staff are stretched.” said Jennifer. “Our intervention is evidence-based, easy to access and targets the risk factors that increase PTSD and depression in this group.”
Research like this would not be possible without the support of people like you. Find out how you can be part of the next breakthrough in mental health by becoming a supporter of MQ today.
