Stressor, coping mechanism, and motivation among health

care workers in dealing with stress due to the COVID-19

pandemic in Indonesia

This study aimed to examine the factors that cause and reduce health workers’ stress
as well as the coping mechanisms used by health workers and to determine what
motivates health workers to continue working in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The descriptive analysis of the 236 health workers who were working in community
health centers, hospitals, and volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that
the average age was 33 years, with average work experience of 10 years. The majority
of the health workers were women (74.6 %), nurses (65.3 %), married (59.7 %), and
living with family (85.2 %). Most of the health workers had received sufficient
information related to COVID-19 (94.1 %). Where further information was required,
it was obtained from social media/the internet (78.4 %). Furthermore, 73.7 % of the
respondents indicated that their activities or work had been disrupted due to the
outbreak of COVID-19.

The most prominent results related to the feelings of the health workers felt that they
had to do this work because it was their duty, and they were fulfilling their ethical
obligations (97.9 %). Additionally, 97.9 % of the health workers appreciated that the
hospitals gave special rewards for the work they were doing. The most significant
stressor was the requirement to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) every day
(96.2 %). In contrast, the main factor that reduced their stress was that all health
professionals worked together on the frontlines to overcome COVID-19 (93.7 %).
The three coping strategies most commonly used by health workers to deal with the
COVID-19 outbreak were adopting a positive attitude to motivate themselves (98.3
%), reading about COVID-19 and its prevention and transmission (98.3 %), and
following appropriate self-protection measures (mask, gown) (98.3 %). Family
support was a significant factor motivating health workers to deal with the COVID-19
outbreak (98.7 %). 
Health workers are at the forefront of dealing with health problems due to the
COVID-19 outbreak. Health workers have an obligation to provide health services
during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to recognize that health workers have
been doing difficult and invaluable work during this time of the pandemic (Cox,
2020). Health workers in clinical settings have an important role in the early detection
and treatment of patients, so they are required to use PPE every day as the best
protection of healthcare workers (Ha, 2020; Sharma et al., 2020). However, using
PPE everyday causes discomfort, so it becomes a stressor for health workers.
Discomfort from using PPE includes adverse skin reactions, respiratory difficulty,
heat stress, dizziness, and nausea (Yuan et al., 2020). One of the strategies that can be
done to overcome this problem is by providing adequate PPE training to increase
safety and comfort (Herron et al., 2020).
In these challenging times, health workers need adequate support to increase their
productivity and keep them motivated (Pathania et al., 2020). This study indicated
that for healthcare workers in Indonesia, family support is the main factor that
motivates healthcare workers to provide health care services during the COVID-19
outbreak. So it is important to provide opportunities for healthcare workers to make
contact and gather with families to provide mutual support. If it is impossible to meet
family members, then each family member needs to communicate regularly by
sending positive messages and motivating health workers to deal with the COVID-19
outbreak in a good psychological condition. Notwithstanding, good collaboration
between professionals, effective preventive measures, and a positive attitude when
dealing with the pandemic also play an important role in reducing stress. The
availability of adequate information and support from hospitals also helped motivate
the health workers in this study to deal with the outbreak.
Source:
Windarwati, H. D., Ati, N. A. L., Paraswati, M. D., Ilmy, S. K., Supianto, A. A., Rizzal, A. F., ... &
Supriati, L. (2021). Stressor, coping mechanism, and motivation among health care workers in
dealing with stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 56,
102470.