New research indicates that the stress and anxiety caused by COVID-19 is affecting the mental health of employees in a significant way. The findings, which appear in Occupational Health Science, provide important insight into the deleterious psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers.
The pandemic has resulted in social isolation, financial strain, uncertainty, health concerns, and — in some cases — increased workloads. To better understand the psychological consequences of the pandemic, the authors of the new study conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of workers’ psychosomatic strain related specifically to COVID-19.
A meta-analysis is a statistical procedure that combines the results of multiple studies to provide a more precise estimate of the overall effect of a particular intervention or treatment. It allows researchers to draw more robust conclusions by increasing the sample size and reducing the impact of chance or random variation.
“One year into pandemic, I was interested in whether work-related literature on COVID-19 had matured enough to warrant a meta-analysis,” explained study author William Jimenez (@WPJimenez), a PhD candidate at Old Dominion University and member of the LEAF research lab.
“I noticed that some researchers were studying pandemic-related strain responses, such as fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus anxiety, in working individuals. After presenting preliminary findings at the 2021 Work, Stress, and Health conference, I asked my doctoral advisor Dr. Ian Katz and labmate Elissa Liguori if they would be interested in helping me update the meta-analysis and prepare a manuscript for journal submission.”
“I was working professionally when the pandemic began and saw how it affected the office climate and my peers,” said Liguori (@ElissaLiguori), a doctoral student. “During my first year of graduate school, I was excited to join a project that empirically examined some of the changes I witnessed.”
The meta-analysis included 135 independent samples representing 61,470 workers. Twenty-four different measures of COVID-19 distress were used, with the most popular being the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale.
“I know research on the psychology of pandemics has really taken off, but I was just struck by how many different measures of COVID-19 distress there are!” Jimenez remarked. “We identified two dozen different measures, and I know there are way more out there that aren’t reflected in our meta-analysis. Going forward, I think it’ll be important for researchers to evaluate which measures best represent the construct of COVID-19 distress and which measures don’t work so well.”
In these measures, those with a high level of distress agreed with statements such as “I am afraid of losing my life because of coronavirus-19” and “I felt nauseous or had stomach problems when I thought about or was exposed to information about the coronavirus.”
The researchers found that workers who had children, were married, and were women tended to experience more COVID-19 distress compared those without children, unmarried individuals, and men. Heightened COVID-19 distress was linked to reduced general mental health and lower quality of life. It was also related to anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and sleep problems.
“I think a key takeaway from the study is that COVID-19 distress has very tangible effects on employees’ well-being (related to anxiety, depression, stress),” Liguori told PsyPost. “I hope it provides a sense of validation if someone reading the study had similar feelings during the pandemic.”
When it came to work-related factors, heightened COVID-19 distress was associated with reduced job satisfaction, along with increased burnout and job stress.
“I find the significant associations between COVID-19 distress and work-related well-being constructs like job satisfaction and burnout particularly intriguing,” Jimenez said. “These relationships are consistent with the notion that stressful psychological experiences not exclusive to work can negatively spillover into your workday. Echoing Elissa, I think it’s important to be kind to yourself during a pandemic — especially when you’re having an off day at work and you’re stressed out about the world being in turmoil.”
The researchers also found some evidence that certain cultural values, such as power distance, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance, influenced how COVID-19 distress affected mental health. In addition, the more economic support a country provided, the weaker the associations between COVID-19 distress and mental health outcomes.
“Although we found some evidence of moderation by country-level differences and type of COVID-19 distress measure used, we’d like to emphasize that such findings are preliminary and limited by the number of studies on which they’re based,” Jimenez noted. “Other researchers should attempt to replicate these moderation findings both meta-analytically as the literature continues to mature and in primary studies.”
“In addition, as the pandemic enters its fourth year in 2023, I encourage researchers to study psychological phenomena like pandemic fatigue or pandemic burnout, which may have different psychosocial and behavioral implications than more popularly researched forms of COVID-19 distress.”
The study, “Fear and Trembling While Working in a Pandemic: an Exploratory Meta‑Analysis of Workers’ COVID‑19 Distress“, was authored by William P. Jimenez, Ian M. Katz, and Elissa A. Liguori.