The effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of intensivists and critical care nurses affected by PTSD
Soodhin, Arisha
The purpose of the research project was to investigate the effects of PTSD on
intensivists and critical care nurses during the Coronavirus pandemic. The project
aims to explore any themes that emerged from the participants' experiences and
provide a platform for their perspectives to be expressed during this global crisis.
Additionally, the objectives of the research project were to assess the biopsychosocial
impact of the coronavirus. The research data collected from this project would also
contribute to the development of new policies post-COVID-19 and shed light on the
specific experiences of healthcare workers in a South African government hospital
located in KwaZulu Natal (KZN). The individual experiences of each subject served
as the foundation for identifying the resulting themes, utilizing an interpretive
hermeneutic phenomenology as the research design. The research methodology
employed semi-structured questionnaires and the PCL-5 checklist to gather qualitative
and quantitative data, respectively, adopting a mixed methods approach. The collected
data was then analysed using content analysis to identify the prevalent themes.
The main findings of this study came across from the seven participants who were a
combination of critical care doctor and nurses. According to the results of the PCL-5
test, three individuals out of seven had a higher possibility of being diagnosed with
PTSD. However, the quantitative information from the PCL-5 checklist was
combined with the qualitative information from the semi-structured questionnaire
which further identified those individuals who would strongly benefit from therapy,
after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a mixed methods approach, themes emerged
that helped to identify the different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic on intensivists
and critical care nurses. These themes ranged from different aspects using the
biopsychosocial theoretical approach. Even though these findings were specifically
derived from the hospital in KZN, the significance of this study is that policies and
treatment plans should be modified post-COVID-19 pandemic, to work through the
traumatic experiences that these individuals have experienced in all hospitals. These
experiences and the participant's views that were expressed could help not only the
specific participants in the future but can also enhance policy implementation/change
for other healthcare workers.
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