Short Reports: Wellbeing Support of Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 in the Middle East

Authors

Keywords:

Well-being, Healthcare, Emotion, COVID-19, Optimism

Abstract

Globally, healthcare employees are facing extraordinary stress, emotional depletion and physical exhaustion due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This exposes employees to risk for burnout, psychological distress and disengagement at work. There is limited data examining employee wellbeing during a pandemic and equally, an absence of best practices for intervention in this time. Participation in corporate wellness programs often is sub-optimal; without incentives or penalties participation is reported to be as low as 20% of the total workforce (Mattke et al., 2020). In March 2020, cases of COVID-19 started to increase in the United Arab Emirates. In response, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi launched “COVID-19 Well” corporate wellness program including 17 initiatives to support healthcare worker wellbeing and normalize emotional and mental health conversations. We examined participation during the ongoing pandemic; an estimated 35.75% to 48.81% of employees participated in wellbeing events. Participants attending virtual events reported significant increase (p<.05) in their emotional wellbeing post event. Moreover, the emotional wellbeing of caregivers during the pandemic documented by Mentimeter™ was similar to the emotional phases experienced during disaster commonly reported in the literature (Zunin & Myers, 2000). Healthcare worker participation in corporate health programs focused on emotional wellbeing may be well received and effective during the ongoing pandemic.

Author Biographies

Lyssette Cardona, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Division Chief, Caregiver Wellbeing Department

Samah Nour, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Occupational Medicine Staff Physician, Caregiver Wellbeing Department

Kelly Huffman, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Staff Psychologist, Neurological Institute

Mu’ed Alkhalaileh, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Occupational Medicine Staff Physician, Caregiver Wellbeing Department

Salama Al Qubaisi, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Wellbeing Associate, Caregiver Wellbeing Department

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Published

2020-12-30

How to Cite

Cardona, L., Nour, S., Huffman, K. ., Alkhalaileh, M., & Al Qubaisi, S. (2020). Short Reports: Wellbeing Support of Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 in the Middle East. Middle East Journal of Positive Psychology, 6, 97–102. Retrieved from https://www.middleeastjournalofpositivepsychology.org/index.php/mejpp/article/view/111