Covid-19 Pandemic Challenges, Coping Strategies and Resilience among Healthcare Workers: A Multiple Linear Regression Analysis

Abstract:

The Coronavirus Disease pandemic has affected over 200 countries, including Nigeria; and its psychological impacts demands on HCWs are among crucial considerations owing to the fact that occurrence of acute stress needs adaptive response to meet those demands. However, critical studies on the interrelatedness and importance of challenges, coping strategies and resilience during the pandemic are lacking. Objective: To investigate Covid-19 pandemic challenges, coping strategies and resilience among healthcare workers using multiple linear regression analysis. Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey among health workers in a State in Northern Nigeria. Data collection was executed through the use of google form software. One hundred and forty-three health care workers constituted the sample. Questionnaires were used for data collection. A combination of consecutive and convenient sampling methods were used. Data analysis was by Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) version 25. Findings: Most of the respondents (89.5%) were having very high challenges. Most of the coping strategies of the respondents centered at low to moderate level (35.7% and 37.1%) respectively; and majority (27.3%) had very low resilience. The correlation between Covid-19 challenges (predictor variable 1) and Covid-19 resilience (outcome variable) was 0.119. The correlation between the Covid-19 coping strategy (predictor variable 2) and Covid-19 resilience (outcome variable) was 0.181. Moreover, the correlation between the predictor variables themselves is 0.301. The result indicated that the model was not a significant predictor of HCWs resilience. The model shows that F (2, 140) = 2.71, P = 0.07. R was 0.19, and R2 was 0.037. There was no statistical significant contribution to the prediction of HCWs resilience from the individual predictors. For challenges of Covid-19 variable (B = 0.080, P = 0.413) and for coping strategies of Covid-19 variable (B = 0.235, P = 0.069). Conclusion: Healthcare workers had low coping strategies and low resilience. There was a weak correlation between the Covid-19 challenges and Covid-19 coping strategies with resilience of healthcare workers; and there was no statistical significant correlation between the independent variables (healthcare workers Covid-19 challenges and healthcare workers Covid-19 coping strategies) and dependent variable (resilience of healthcare workers). Recommendations: The policy makers and hospitals management should provide adequate protection equipment, psychological and social support as well as counseling against Covid-19 and other infectious diseases to healthcare workers.