scholarly journals The same old story: Workplace violence towards healthcare providers during COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 006-009
Author(s):  
Ali Kemal Erenler ◽  
Seval Komut ◽  
Ahmet Baydin

Workplace violence (WPV) is a growing public health problem worldwide affecting physical and mental health of healthcare providers. It has many deterious consequences such as anxiety, burnout and intention to leave the job. With the pandemic, it is assumed that the incidence of workplace violence tends to increase. Particularly, misinformation about the nature of the disease create prejudice against staff working in healthcare facilities. There are several measures to be taken for prevention of physical and mental health of healthcare providers. A “zero-tolerance policy against violence” should be implemented. Doctors and nurses should be encouraged to report incidents. Social support should be provided for the personnel. In this review, our aim was to clarify if there is an increase in the incidence of WPV against healthcare providers in the pandemic process. We also aimed to make recommendations about measures that must be taken to prevent healthcare providers from detrimental effects of WPV.

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 1771-1772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shulin Chen ◽  
Yeates Conwell ◽  
Helen Fung Kum Chiu

Loneliness is a common, distressing feeling that results when one perceives his/her social relationships and supports as inadequate. Social connectedness refers to the relationships between the individual and his or her family, friends, community, and other supports. Neither loneliness nor social connectedness has received enough research attention, in particular with regard to older adults’ physical and mental health.


The students are generally affected by stress especially in professional courses like medical, engineering are affected by higher stress, this leads to psychological problems such as high amount of depression, nervousness, cardiac problems etc.,. Mental health among the students indicates growing concern along with opportunity, because of the large number of people who could be reached during an important period of life. College premises, by their scholarly nature, are also well positioned to develop, evaluate, and disseminate best practices. In short, colleges offer a unique opportunity to address one of the most significant public health problems among late adolescents and young adults. Busy schedules crammed with curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular activities can affect the student’s physical and mental health, especially on delayed eating and improper and less sleeping. These stressors can compound over time, leading to even greater levels of stress. College premises, by their scholarly nature, are also well positioned to develop, evaluate, and disseminate best practices. In short, colleges offer a unique opportunity to address one of the most significant public health problems among late adolescents and young adults. This study aims to analyse the stress among the engineering students from sample survey. A quantitative method was used in gathering and analysing the data by distributing questionnaires to the students. The results obtained were analysed for different factors that cause stress among students


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodora Stefanidou ◽  
Jingyi Wang ◽  
Nicola Morant ◽  
Brynmor Lloyd-Evans ◽  
Sonia Johnson

Abstract Background: Loneliness is an important public health problem with established adverse effects on physical and mental health. Although, people with psychosis often experience high levels of loneliness, relatively little is known about the relationship between loneliness and early psychosis. Potential interventions to address loneliness might be easier to implement early in the illness when social networks and social skills may be more intact than at a later stage. We investigated the views of mental health practitioners about the context and causes of loneliness in people with early psychosis, and about potential interventions.Methods: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with mental health practitioners (n=20). Participants were purposively recruited from four early intervention services for first-episode psychosis in the UK. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was conducted.Results: Participants believed that the majority of service users with early psychosis experience feelings of loneliness. They often saw socially isolated and disconnected clients and believed them to be lonely, but rarely discussed loneliness explicitly in clinical interactions. A combination of symptoms, stigma and negative sense of self were believed to underpin loneliness. Participants could not identify any specific current interventions delivered by their services for tackling loneliness, but thought some routinely provided interventions, including social groups and psychological treatments, could be helpful. They favoured making a wider range of loneliness interventions available and believed that community agencies beyond mental health services should be involved to make these effective and feasible to deliver. They suggested social participation interventions without an explicit mental health focus as potentially promising and valued a co-produced approach to intervention development. Conclusions: This study suggests that loneliness is not routinely discussed in early intervention services, and a targeted strategy for tackling it is lacking. Co-produced, individualised community approaches, and interventions that target symptoms, stigma and negative self-schemas might be beneficial in alleviating loneliness for people with early psychosis. Empirical research is needed to develop and test such interventions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 111 (12) ◽  
pp. 2239-2250
Author(s):  
Madeline R. Sterling ◽  
Jia Li ◽  
Jacklyn Cho ◽  
Joanna Bryan Ringel ◽  
Sharon R. Silver

Objectives. To determine the prevalence and predictors of US home health care workers’ (HHWs’) self-reported general, physical, and mental health. Methods. Using the 2014–2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we analyzed the characteristics and health of 2987 HHWs (weighted n = 659 000) compared with 2 similar low-wage worker groups (health care aides and health care support workers, not working in the home). We conducted multivariable logistic regression to determine which characteristics predicted HHWs’ health. Results. Overall, 26.6% of HHWs had fair or poor general health, 14.1% had poor physical health, and 20.9% had poor mental health; the prevalence of each outcome was significantly higher than that of the comparison groups. Among HHWs, certain factors, such as low household income, an inability to see a doctor because of cost, and a history of depression, were associated with all 3 aspects of suboptimal health. Conclusions. HHWs had worse general, physical, and mental health compared with low-wage workers not in home health. Public Health Implications. Increased attention to the health of HHWs by public health experts and policymakers is warranted. In addition, targeted interventions appropriate to their specific health needs may be required. (Am J Public Health. 2021;111(12):2239–2250. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306512 )


Author(s):  
Charley E. Willison

Homelessness is a public health problem. From rising housing costs to discriminatory lending and leasing, natural disasters, and mental illness, homelessness has many different causes and many similar effects: serious adverse consequences for physical and mental health across the life course. This chapter makes the case for homelessness as a public health problem, with chronic homelessness as scope of focus for this book. This chapter then introduces the main question of the book: If municipalities are the site of the U.S. homeless epidemic, what are municipal governments doing to address homelessness, and why? This chapter then outlines the role of governance structures in shaping municipal approaches to chronic homelessness, describes the governance system responsible for designing and delivering solutions to homelessness and chronic homelessness in the United States, and the history of homeless policy in America. Finally, this chapter lays the roadmap for the book and subsequent chapters.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Hodge ◽  
Leila Barraza ◽  
Susan Russo ◽  
Kellie Nelson ◽  
Greg Measer

Obesity is the definitive epidemic of the modern era in the United States. Its well-documented public health impacts, especially related to children and adolescents, are horrific. Nearly one-third of American minors are overweight; over 50% of them are obese. Already, these kids suffer from multiple adverse physical and mental health conditions. Sadly, absent serious communal and individual interventions, their lives may be cut short compared to their own parents’ life expectancy. While recent surveillance suggests childhood obesity may be trending down slightly in some populations, public health experts remain concerned about the threat obesity poses to the health of America's youth.The concurrent travesty underlying childhood obesity is the relative societal failure to slow and reverse its spread.


1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 682-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Keene

Healthcare providers need to be aware of the facts regarding the environmental impact of regulated medical wastes and be prepared to voice concern over unnecessary and costly regulations. The wash-ups of waste, a small percentage of which was medical waste, on the beaches on New York and New Jersey in the summers of 1987 and 1988 prompted an immediate response by state and federal governments. Although it was demonstrated that this medical waste did not originate in healthcare facilities,' the public demanded that their elected representatives do something about what they perceived to be the degradation of the environment and a risk to public health caused by “uncontrolled dumping” of “medical wastes” into the ocean. As a result of these and other occurrences, several environmental concerns regarding the treatment and disposal of medical waste were voiced by the public and acknowledged by the legislators. These included the following: aesthetic damage to the environment; potential public health problems associated with infectious agents in medical waste; and potential environmental contamination with hazardous chemicals and radioactivity associated with medical wastes.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Mahbub Hossain ◽  
Samia Tasnim ◽  
Abida Sultana ◽  
Farah Faizah ◽  
Hoimonty Mazumder ◽  
...  

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic affecting health and wellbeing globally. In addition to the physical health, economic, and social implications, the psychological impacts of this pandemic are increasingly being reported in the scientific literature. This narrative review reflected on scholarly articles on the epidemiology of mental health problems in COVID-19. The current literature suggests that people affected by COVID-19 may have a high burden of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety disorders, stress, panic attack, irrational anger, impulsivity, somatization disorder, sleep disorders, emotional disturbance, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and suicidal behavior. Moreover, several factors associated with mental health problems in COVID-19 are found, which include age, gender, marital status, education, occupation, income, place of living, close contact with people with COVID-19, comorbid physical and mental health problems, exposure to COVID-19 related news and social media, coping styles, stigma, psychosocial support, health communication, confidence in health services, personal protective measures, risk of contracting COVID-19, and perceived likelihood of survival. Furthermore, the epidemiological distribution of mental health problems and associated factors were heterogeneous among the general public, COVID-19 patients, and healthcare providers. The current evidence suggests that a psychiatric epidemic is cooccurring with the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitates the attention of the global health community. Future epidemiological studies should emphasize on psychopathological variations and temporality of mental health problems in different populations. Nonetheless, multipronged interventions should be developed and adopted to address the existing psychosocial challenges and promote mental health amid the COVID-19 pandemic.


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