Experiences of stigma, discrimination and violence and their impact on the mental health of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Miroslava Janoušková*, Jaroslav Pekara*, Matěj Kučera, Pavla Brennan Kearns, Jana Šeblová, Katrin Wolfová, Marie Kuklová, Dominika Šeblová

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Health care workers have been exposed to COVID-19 more than people in other professions, which may have led to stigmatization, discrimination, and violence toward them, possibly impacting their mental health. We investigated (1) factors associated with stigma, discrimination, and violence, (2) the association of stigma, discrimination, and violence with mental health, (3) everyday experiences of stigmatization, discrimination, and violence. We chose a combination of a quantitative approach and qualitative content analysis to analyze data collected at three time points: in 2020, 2021 and 2022. A higher age was associated with lower odds of experiencing stigma, discrimination, and violence, whereas female gender was related to more negative experiences. The intensity of exposure to COVID-19 was associated with greater experience with stigmatization, discrimination, and violence across all three years (for example in 2022: odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 1.74, 1.18–2.55 for mild exposure; 2.82, 1.95–4.09 for moderate exposure; and 5.74, 3.55–9.26 for severe exposure, when compared to no exposure). Stigma, discrimination, and violence were most strongly associated with psychological distress in 2020 (odds ratio = 2.97, 95% confidence interval 2.27–3.88) and with depressive symptoms in 2021 (odds ratio = 2.78, 95% confidence interval 2.12–3.64). Attention should be given to the destigmatization of contagious diseases and the prevention of discrimination, violence, and mental health problems, both within workplaces and among the public.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10534
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalScientific Reports
Volume14
Early online date8 May 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

The research has been funded by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic (grant NU22J-09\u201300064).

FundersFunder number
Ministerstvo Zdravotnictví Ceské RepublikyNU22J-09–00064
Ministerstvo Zdravotnictví Ceské Republiky

    Keywords

    • Depression
    • Health care workers
    • Mental health
    • Psychological distress
    • Stigmatization
    • Violence

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