Abstract
BACKGROUND: Research indicates that a significant number of healthcare workers accounted for all confirmed Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, and many of the infected healthcare workers were asymptomatic. During the COVID-19 outbreak, a considerable number of people in Taiwan contracted the disease. Therefore, health workers in Taiwan often experienced lack of medical resources, and this problem is worse for outer island areas. In terms of stress and mental health, this study investigated the effect of poor healthcare capacity and high workload on health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also explored mindfulness-based stress reduction and resilience in health workers. METHODS: This study conducted an in-depth interview to investigate stress perceived by health workers in a hospital located on an outer island of Taiwan as well as their mental health and stress relieving strategies. RESULTS: It was found that during the COVID-19 outbreak, some common sources of stress for health workers included exposure to infectious diseases, heavy workloads, facing ethical dilemma in clinical decision-making, and unfamiliar problems from the pandemic. These types of stress cause worries, anxiety, and depression in health workers, which affects their mental and physical health as well as their patient-care performance. CONCLUSION: This study proposed that mindfulness-based stress reduction and protecting mental health are important for health workers.