PTSD symptoms common among nursing home staff

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been common among nursing home staff during the Covid-19 pandemic and some have even considered ending their own lives, new research has found.

The survey was part of a research study investigating the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of those working in nursing homes.

The COWORKER Nursing Home Study is being carried out by St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI).

Phase one of the study involved a survey of 390 nursing home staff who were working during the third wave of the pandemic. It found that 45% reported moderate or severe PTSD symptoms, while 39% reported low mood.

Furthermore, one in seven staff reported considering ending their life over the previous week, while one in 11 reported planning to end their life.

According to the researchers, the high levels of PTSD symptoms found in this study are similar to those reported in nursing home staff internationally, indicating that this is a common experience worldwide during the pandemic.

The study also examined if mental health issues differed among different members of staff. It found that overall, nurses were much more likely to report low mood. Healthcare assistants were more likely to report moral injuries than non-clinical staff. Moral injury is the psychological distress experienced when an individual feels betrayed by higher authorities or witnesses or engages in acts that contradict their moral or ethical beliefs.

The study did not find any significant differences between professions in relation to PTSD symptoms. This indicates that non-clinical staff experienced similar levels of PTSD symptoms as nurses and healthcare assistants.

According to the study’s lead researcher, Prof Declan McLoughlin, who is a professor of psychiatry at TCD and a consultant psychiatrist at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, nursing homes “have been disproportionately affected during the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular during the first wave”.

“Staff have had to contend with high numbers of Covid-related deaths of residents, exposure to the virus, increased visiting restrictions and disruption to routine activities in their workplaces,” he noted.

Prof McLoughlin pointed out that despite the “immense challenge” staff, residents and their families have faced, “few studies to date have explored the pandemic’s specific impact on nursing home staff’s mental health”.

“It is hoped that phase one of this study’s findings will highlight potential areas of concern for nursing home staff so that they can address this and seek support as required,” he said.

Meanwhile, according to the study’s lead author, Dr Conan Brady, when it comes to the findings relating to suicidal ideation, there is little data on this in nursing home staff internationally, therefore this “warrants more investigation”.

The researchers now plan to repeat the survey to see if these experiences remain following the rollout of Ireland’s vaccination programme. They plan to begin recruiting nursing home staff for this in the coming weeks. For more information on the second phase of the study, click here.

The results of phase one of the peer-reviewed study have been published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. These can be viewed here.

Commenting on the findings, NHI chief executive, Tadhg Daly, said that they had highlighted the “enormously stressful and traumatic impact the pandemic has had on nursing home staff”.

“Staff in our nursing homes were placed in extreme emergency situations, tasked with coping with intensive pressures that were encountered over extended periods. Covid-19 has not dissipated and severe mental and physical pressures remain for nursing home staff, with cases escalating in the community as we face into the winter period,” he added.