{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,13]],"date-time":"2026-06-13T18:07:40Z","timestamp":1781374060569,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]],"date-time":"2020-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1608249600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":17,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,30]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our study aims to understand the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers (HCWs) at acute hospital settings in the South-East of Ireland, as a crucial step in guiding policies and interventions to maintain their psychological well-being.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Design<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Observational cohort study.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Participants and setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>472 HCWs participated from two distinct acute hospital settings, A and B, in the South-East of Ireland.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Primary and secondary outcome measures<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Measures of psychological distress\u2014depression, anxiety, acute and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)\u2014as dictated by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). An independent sample t-test and a Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine significance of difference in continuous variables between groups. Categorical variables were assessed for significance with a \u03c7\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      test for independence.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The DASS-21 provided independent measures of depression (mean 4.57, IQR 2\u20137), anxiety (mean 3.87, IQR 1\u20136) and stress (mean 7.41, IQR 4\u201310). Positive scores were reflected in 201 workers (42.6%) for depression and 213 (45.1%) for both anxiety and stress. The IES-R measured subjective distress on three subscales: intrusion (mean 1.085, IQR 0.375\u20131.72), avoidance (mean 1.008, IQR 0.375\u20131.5) and hyperarousal (mean 1.084, IQR 0.5\u20131.667). Overall, 195 cases (41.3%) were concerning for PTSD. Site B scored significantly higher across all parameters of depression (5.24 vs 4.08, p&lt;0.01), anxiety (4.66 vs 3.3, p&lt;0.01), stress (8.91 vs 6.33, p&lt;0.01) and PTSD (0.058 vs 0.043, p&lt;0.01). Worse outcomes were also noted in HCWs with underlying medical ailments.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Psychological distress is prevalent among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic; screening for adverse mental and emotional outcomes and developing timely tailored preventative measures with effective feedback are vital to protect their psychological well-being, both in the immediate and long-term.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-042930","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,22]],"date-time":"2020-12-22T18:20:21Z","timestamp":1608661221000},"page":"e042930","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":53,"title":["Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers at acute hospital settings in the South-East of Ireland: an observational cohort multicentre study"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1207-4352","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Saied","family":"Ali","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Medicine, University Hospital Waterford, Waterford, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sinead","family":"Maguire","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology, St James\u2019 Hospital, Dublin, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eleanor","family":"Marks","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geriatric Medicine, St. Luke\u2019s General Hospital, Kilkenny, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maeve","family":"Doyle","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, University Hospital Waterford, Waterford, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claire","family":"Sheehy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Waterford, Waterford, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025121515084775000_10.12.e042930.1","unstructured":"National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . 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