Healthcare Workers’ SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Uncertainty-Related Stress, Resilience, and Coping Strategies during the First Week of the World Health Organization’s Alert

  1. Mohamad-Hani Temsah
  2. Shuliweeh Alenezi
  3. Mohammed Alarabi
  4. Fadi Aljamaan
  5. Khalid Alhasan
  6. Rasha Assiri
  7. Rolan Bassrawi
  8. Fatimah Alshahrani
  9. Ali Alhaboob
  10. Ali Alaraj
  11. Nasser S. Alharbi
  12. Abdulkarim Alrabiaah
  13. Rabih Halwani
  14. Amr Jamal
  15. Naif Abdulmajeed
  16. Lina Alfarra
  17. Wafa Almashdali
  18. Ayman Al-Eyadhy
  19. Fahad AlZamil
  20. Sarah Alsubaie
  21. Mazin Barry
  22. Ziad A. Memish
  23. Jaffar A. Al-Tawfiq

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Abstract

Background: As the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant emerged and spread globally at an alarming speed, healthcare workers’ (HCWs) uncertainties, worries, resilience, and coping strategies warranted assessment. The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe psychological impact on HCWs, including the development of Post-Traumatic Stress symptoms. Specific subgroups of HCWs, such as front-line and female workers, were more prone to poor mental health outcomes and difficulties facing stress. Methods: The responses to an online questionnaire among HCWs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) were collected from 1 December 2021 to 6 December 2021, aiming to assess their uncertainties, worries, resilience, and coping strategies regarding the Omicron variant. Three validated instruments were used to achieve the study’s goals: the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), the Standard Stress Scale (SSS), and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS)—Short Form. Results: The online survey was completed by 1285 HCWs. Females made up the majority of the participants (64%). A total of 1285 HCW’s completed the online survey from all regions in KSA. Resilient coping scored by the BRCS was negatively and significantly correlated with stress as scored by the SSS (r = −0.313, p < 0.010). Moreover, intolerance of uncertainty scored by the IUS positively and significantly correlated with stress (r = 0.326, p < 0.010). Increased stress levels were linked to a considerable drop in resilient coping scores. Furthermore, being a Saudi HCW or a nurse was linked to a significant reduction in resilient coping ratings. Coping by following healthcare authorities’ preventative instructions and using the WHO website as a source of information was linked to a considerable rise in resilient coping. Conclusions: The negative association between resilient coping and stress was clearly shown, as well as how underlying intolerance of uncertainty is linked to higher stress among HCWs quickly following the development of a new infectious threat. The study provides early insights into developing and promoting coping strategies for emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.

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  1. Version published to 10.3390/ijerph19041944
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.12.24.21268377: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: The Institutional Review Board at King Saud University approved the study (approval 21/01039/IRB).
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    The SPSS IBM statistical analysis program Version#21 was used for the statistical data analysis.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    4.1 Study limitations and strengths: This research is subject to the limitation of cross-sectional studies, including sampling or recall bias possibility and response rate. While our study is among the pioneer research to explore worries and reliance among HCWs considering the novel SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, the HCWs stress and perceptions are likely to change as more data about this variant emerges over time. Moreover, HCWs’ coping strategies may differ from one setting to another, so future research could explore this further in other countries.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.12.24.21268377v1 on medRxiv