Characteristics and outcomes of health and social care workers testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the Tayside region of Scotland

It is more likely than ever that healthcare staff of all grades and in all settings will encounter cases of sexual assault, so it is crucial that they know how to respond appropriately to support survivors. Health and social care workers engage with clients in a range of situations, which means that they are well placed for such disclosure. In some cases, particularly if the assault is a recent incident, time is of the essence to ensure that there is no loss of evidence that could be crucial in gaining a conviction. This article explores the role of a sexual assault referral centre (SARC), a service that few people know about or think they will ever need. The type of sexual activity that constitutes a criminal offence will be discussed and information presented that offers direction for those who want to involve the police, and for those who do not. Links to a range of organisations are also included that survivors of recent or historic sexual assault can access for support and advice.

Download Full-text

Supporting people with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Practice Nursing ◽

10.12968/pnur.2021.32.2.65 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 65-68

Author(s):

Linda Nazarko

Keyword(s):

Primary Care Practice ◽

Social Care ◽

Practice Nurse ◽

Informal Support ◽

Care Practice ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Practice Nurses ◽

People With Dementia ◽

Care Workers ◽

Health And Social Care

People with dementia have experienced great disruption to their lives due to the pandemic. Linda Nazarko highlights the way individuals have been affected and how the practice nurse can support them People with dementia and their caregivers have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Isolation, a reduction in formal and informal support, and disruption to routine have contributed to feelings of loneliness and anxiety in people with dementia and their caregivers. The pandemic has led to staff shortages in health and social care, changes of care workers and a reduction in the level of support provided. These changes have affected the physical and mental health of people with dementia and increased their reliance on primary care. Practice nurses have a key role to play in supporting affected individuals.

Download Full-text

ENACT Study: What has helped health and social care workers maintain their mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic? Adaptive coping, team resilience, help-seeking behaviour and work based supports

10.31234/osf.io/su45w ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Nicola Cogan ◽

Chloe Kennedy ◽

Zoe Beck ◽

Lisa McInnes ◽

Gillian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Online Survey ◽

Social Care ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Mental Wellbeing ◽

Adaptive Coping ◽

Team Resilience ◽

Care Workers ◽

Health And Social Care

Rapid studies have highlighted the adverse mental health impact of COVID-19 on health and social care workers (HSCWs). Complementing this work, we report on the psychosocial factors that have helped HSCWs adapt to the adversities associated with COVID-19 and protect staff wellbeing in Scotland. The ENACT study collected data from HSCWs (n= 1364) in Scotland during the third national lockdown. Using a cross-sectional design, participants completed an online survey providing quantitative data and free responses. A multi-method approach to analysis was used. The majority of HSCWs were found to have low wellbeing scores, high levels of COVID-19 stress, worry, burnout and risk perception scores and almost half of HSCWs met the clinical cut off for acute stress. Adaptive coping strategies and increased perceived team resilience helped mitigate against the adverse impact that COVID-19 stressors have on HSCWs’ mental wellbeing. HSCWs were significantly more likely to seek informal support for dealing with personal or emotional problems. Barriers to formal help-seeking were identified including stigma and fears of consequence of disclosure. HSCWs most valued peer support, workplace supports, visible leadership and teamwork. Our findings illuminate the complexity of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on HSCWs’ wellbeing and will inform future intervention development to increase positive adaptation amongst staff. Addressing barriers to mental health help-seeking among HSCWs is essential. The implications emphasise the importance of lessons learned across health and social care contexts, planning and preparedness for future pandemics.

Download Full-text

Covid-19: schools set to close across UK except for children of health and social care workers

BMJ ◽

10.1136/bmj.m1140 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. m1140 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Elisabeth Mahase

Keyword(s):

Social Care ◽

Care Workers ◽

Health And Social Care

Download Full-text

COVID-19 Vaccine Education (CoVE) for Health and Care Workers to Facilitate Global Promotion of the COVID-19 Vaccines

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph19020653 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 653

Author(s):

Holly Blake ◽

Aaron Fecowycz ◽

Hollie Starbuck ◽

Wendy Jones

Keyword(s):

Social Care ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Target Audience ◽

Vaccine Uptake ◽

Audience Engagement ◽

Mixed Methods Evaluation ◽

High Satisfaction ◽

Care Workers ◽

Health And Social Care ◽

Kirkpatrick Model

The COVID-19 vaccine is being rolled out globally. High and ongoing public uptake of the vaccine relies on health and social care professionals having the knowledge and confidence to actively and effectively advocate it. An internationally relevant, interactive multimedia training resource called COVID-19 Vaccine Education (CoVE) was developed using ASPIRE methodology. This rigorous six-step process included: (1) establishing the aims, (2) storyboarding and co-design, (3) populating and producing, (4) implementation, (5) release, and (6) mixed-methods evaluation aligned with the New World Kirkpatrick Model. Two synchronous consultations with members of the target audience identified the support need and established the key aim (Step 1: 2 groups: n = 48). Asynchronous storyboarding was used to co-construct the content, ordering, presentation, and interactive elements (Step 2: n = 14). Iterative two-stage peer review was undertaken of content and technical presentation (Step 3: n = 23). The final resource was released in June 2021 (Step 4: >3653 views). Evaluation with health and social care professionals from 26 countries (survey, n = 162; qualitative interviews, n = 15) established that CoVE has high satisfaction, usability, and relevance to the target audience. Engagement with CoVE increased participants’ knowledge and confidence relating to vaccine promotion and facilitated vaccine-promoting behaviours and vaccine uptake. The CoVE digital training package is open access and provides a valuable mechanism for supporting health and care professionals in promoting COVID-19 vaccination uptake.

Download Full-text

What support do frontline workers want? A qualitative study of health and social care workers’ experiences and views of psychosocial support during the COVID-19 pandemic

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0256454 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (9) ◽

pp. e0256454

Author(s):

Jo Billings ◽

Nada Abou Seif ◽

Siobhan Hegarty ◽

Tamara Ondruskova ◽

Emilia Soulios ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Support Services ◽

Social Care ◽

Psychosocial Support ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Snowball Sampling ◽

Frontline Staff ◽

Frontline Workers ◽

Care Workers ◽

Health And Social Care

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a significant burden on the mental health and wellbeing of frontline health and social care workers. The need to support frontline staff has been recognised. However, there is to date little research specifically on how best to support the mental health needs of frontline workers, and none on their own experiences and views about what might be most helpful. Aims We set out to redress this research gap by qualitatively exploring UK frontline health and social care workers’ own experiences and views of psychosocial support during the pandemic. Method Frontline health and social care workers were recruited purposively through social media and by snowball sampling via healthcare colleagues. Workers who volunteered to take part in the study were interviewed remotely following a semi-structured interview guide. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed by the research team following the principles of Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Results We conducted 25 interviews with frontline workers from a variety of professional groups working in health and social care settings across the UK. Themes derived from our analysis showed that workers’ experiences and views about psychosocial support were complex. Peer support was many workers’ first line of support but could also be experienced as a burden. Workers were ambivalent about support shown by organisations, media and the public. Whilst workers valued psychological support services, there were many disparities in provision and barriers to access. Conclusions The results of this study show that frontline health and social care workers are likely to need a flexible system of support including peer, organisational and professional support. More research is needed to fully unpack the structural, systemic and individual barriers to accessing psychosocial support. Greater collaboration, consultation and co-production of support services and their evaluation is warranted.

Download Full-text

Where has vulnerability gone?

Qualitative Social Work ◽

10.1177/1473325020973316 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 147332502097331

Author(s):

Catherine R Phillips

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Social Care ◽

Judith Butler ◽

Cultural Representation ◽

The Public ◽

Care Workers ◽

Health And Social Care ◽

Cultural Spaces ◽

Cultural Responses

During Covid-19, health care workers have been vulnerable to death, and at the same time, in response to their vulnerability, heroic. Heroism is one of the most ubiquitous narratives during this pandemic. In this article, I am interested in the juncture between vulnerability and heroism, the discursive privileging of a hero and the implications of this for social workers in health and social care. I use the writings of Judith Butler to ask, where has vulnerability gone? I argue that it is not that vulnerability is erased or suppressed, or comes second in the public imaginary, but rather, vulnerability is reconstituted as heroic and becomes unrecognisable. Vulnerability is an under-examined concept in social work and an analysis of its cultural representation during the outbreak of Covid-19, can contribute to our knowledge about how vulnerability operates in health and social care, as well as how vulnerability conditions the cultural spaces we operate within. Can new insights, provoked by the cultural responses to this pandemic, lead to a reorientation for social work politics and the politics of vulnerability?

Download Full-text

A Cross-Sectional Examination of the Mental Wellbeing, Coping and Quality of Working Life in Health and Social Care Workers in the UK at Two Time Points of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Epidemiologia ◽

10.3390/epidemiologia2030017 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 227-242

Author(s):

Paula McFadden ◽

Ruth D. Neill ◽

John Moriarty ◽

Patricia Gillen ◽

John Mallett ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Care ◽

Phase 1 ◽

Working Life ◽

Phase 2 ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Quality Of Working Life ◽

Care Workers ◽

Health And Social Care ◽

The Uk

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve around the world, it is important to examine its effect on societies and individuals, including health and social care (HSC) professionals. The aim of this study was to compare cross-sectional data collected from HSC staff in the UK at two time points during the COVID-19 pandemic: Phase 1 (May–July 2020) and Phase 2 (November 2020–January 2021). The HSC staff surveyed consisted of nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, social care workers and social workers from across the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland). Multiple regressions were used to examine the effects of different coping strategies and demographic and work-related variables on participants’ wellbeing and quality of working life to see how and if the predictors changed over time. An additional multiple regression was used to directly examine the effects of time (Phase 1 vs. Phase 2) on the outcome variables. Findings suggested that both wellbeing and quality of working life deteriorated from Phase 1 to Phase 2. The results have the potential to inform interventions for HSC staff during future waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, other infectious outbreaks or even other circumstances putting long-term pressures on HSC systems.

Download Full-text

COVID-19 booster vaccinations

Journal of Prescribing Practice ◽

10.12968/jprp.2021.3.12.480 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (12) ◽

pp. 480-481

Author(s):

George Winter

Keyword(s):

Social Care ◽

Health Security ◽

Care Workers ◽

Health And Social Care ◽

The Uk ◽

Do So

With the UK Health Security Agency announcement that those over 50 as well as health and social care workers are to be offered a COVID-19 vaccine boster, George Winter investigates whether research supports the necessity to do so

Download Full-text