Dear colleague,
a a a a a a a a a a This COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the world
around us. Probably one of the biggest hit industries is the healthcare field. A
recent study wanted to evaluate the psychological effects caused by the
pandemic. The researchers believed that COVID-19 has caused occupational
stress and PTSD for healthcare workers (Levi & Moss, 2022). The study used a
convenience sample of ten ICU nurses from a southeastern hospital in the United
States. These nurses had all treated at least one patient with a severe case of
COVID-19. To test the stress levels of these nurses, they were interviewed over
the phone. The interview used open-ended questions that would assess the
participant’s PTSD symptoms. At the same time, participants were asked to rate
their job satisfaction using a Likert scale. Once the interview was complete, the
opened-ended ended responses were compared to the criteria for PTSD in the
DSM-5. Then, job satisfaction scores were also correlated with one another. Out
of the ten nurses, seven of them met the criteria for PTSD. At the same time, five
out of ten nurses had contemplated quitting their job within the last six months.
The researchers concluded that once job stresses are severe enough, they may
cause PTSD symptoms. With that in mind, a high amount of stress may also lead
to lower job satisfaction. However, researchers close the article by explaining that
further research is needed to be able to generalize these results to a wider
population (Levi & Moss, 2022).
a a a a a a a a a a Another study linked PTSD and job satisfaction. This second study
believes that proper social support would increase job satisfaction. At the same
time, social support and job satisfaction could help veterans overcome PTSD
(Harris et al., 2017). The sample for this study consisted of 172 veterans from a
veteran’s hospital in the Midwest United States. Each participant was evaluated
for PTSD based on the criteria laid out in the DSM-5. Once this evaluation was
complete, they completed two inventories. The first inventory is the Mentoring and
Communication Support Scale (MCSS). The MCSS is used to assess the amount
of social support a person feels from their workplace. The second inventory is the
Job in General (JIG). This inventory seeks to evaluate the amount of satisfaction
that a person finds in their job. The researchers used a multiple regression
analysis to evaluate all these variables. The results indicated that PTSD
symptoms were much less prominent in veterans that had high job satisfaction
and a high amount of social support from their job (Harris et al., 2017). a a
a a a a a a a a a a These articles are interesting to think about. The relationship between
occupation and PTSD is unclear. On one side of it, it appears the job can cause a
person to develop PTSD. However, on the other side, it seems that the job helps
to alleviate PTSD symptoms for others.
References
Harris, J. I., Strom, T. Q., Ferrier-Auerbach, A. G., Kaler, M. E., Hansen L. P., &
Erbes, C. R. (2017). Workplace social support in job satisfaction among veterans
with posttraumatic stress symptoms: A preliminary correlational study. PLoS One,
12(8). http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181344 Links to an external site.
