One in three health care workers are battling depression and more than 73% report feeling negative about their mental state because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to Voices of Healthcare Heroes, a new study from CulturIntel.
The findings are among several disturbing highlights featured in the new big data study that analyzed nearly 49 million online conversations among physicians, support staff, nurses, and EMTs. The objective of CulturIntel’s Ai-powered analysis was to go beyond the hospitalization rate to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on health care workers’ lives in a holistic manner: their behavior, their social connection, their economic situation, and their mental stage in comparison to the general public
The full study, which can be found here along with the methodology and HCP Impactmeter on Culturintel’s website, also draws other important conclusions, including that:
- While health care professionals have become more accustomed to how deadly and dangerous the pandemic is, they are experiencing 1.5 times more grief than the overall population
- The largest mental health challenges HCPs currently face are anxiety, loss and depression. For example, the study reveals that physicians are experiencing 1.8 times more anger than the overall population, whereas overall health care workers are feeling 1.6 times more traumatized than the overall population.
- The effect of the pandemic is heightened for health care workers as they are not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and report facing too many challenges to move forward. Despite these challenges, healthcare workers also report being three times more driven by purpose and camaraderie among their community.
“This study reveals that the health crisis demands even greater analysis and support mechanisms for the same healthcare workers who are literally struggling to carry us through the pandemic,” said Lili Gil Valletta, CEO and co-founder of CIEN+ and CulturIntel. “The voices we hear are of professionals who care deeply about the work they are doing but are struggling more mightily personally and professionally than even traditional media outlets can relate.”
