Maternity healthcare providers’ self-perceptions of well-being during COVID-19: A survey in Tshwane Health District, South Africa
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Maternity healthcare providers’ self-perceptions of well-being during COVID-19: A survey in Tshwane Health District, South Africa | |
| Creator | Oosthuizen, Sarie Bergh, Anne-Marie Silver, Antonella Malatji, Refilwe Mfolo, Vivian Botha, Tanita | |
| Description | Background: Mental health manifestations such as depression and anxiety disorders became more marked during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as frontline healthcare workers struggled to maintain high-quality intrapartum care and essential health services.Aim: This study aimed to identify maternity healthcare providers’ self-perceptions of changes in their feelings of mental well-being.Setting: Ten midwife obstetric units and the labour wards of four district hospitals in Tshwane Health District, South Africa.Methods: We conducted an anonymous, cross-sectional survey amongst a convenience sample of 114 maternity healthcare workers to gauge the changes in healthcare workers’ experience and perceptions of well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four items measured the perceived changes on a scale of 0–10 for the periods before and during COVID-19, respectively, namely feelings of fear or anxiety, stress, depression and anger.Results: The majority of participants were professional nurses (37%) and advanced midwives (47%). They reported a significant change in well-being from before the pandemic to during the pandemic with regard to all four items (p 0.0001). The biggest ‘before-during’ difference was in perceptions of fear or anxiety and the smallest difference was in perceptions of anger. A framework was constructed from the open-ended responses to explain healthcare workers’ understanding and perceptions of increased negative feelings regarding their mental well-being.Conclusion: The observed trends in the changes in healthcare workers’ self-perceptions of their mental well-being highlight the need for further planning to build resilient frontline healthcare workers and provide them with ongoing mental health support and improved communication pathways. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2022-01-12 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/phcfm.v14i1.3034 | |
| Source | African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 14, No 1 (2022); 10 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3034/5188
https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3034/5189
https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3034/5190
https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3034/5191
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