Organizational and Psychological Intervention for Healthcare Professionals in Combating COVID-19

The main purpose of the project is to examine the organizational context and practices needed in the health sector, to identify the psycho-social risk factors experienced by health workers, to offer solutions, to provide effective organizational and planning psychological interventions. According to the qualitative analysis findings in terms of the organizational dimension of the study, the emerging psycho-social risks perceived by healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 process; the risk of transmission, the increase in violence seen by the relatives of the patient, the inability to socialize due to social distance. The risk of transmission was associated with the emotional burden of the job, along with the anxiety of infecting others. Job demands frequently expressed by employees; Lack of personnel, increased workload and fatigue with long-term work, perceived injustice due to reward-effort imbalance. The subject emphasized as an organizational resource is the social support of colleagues and leaders. It was observed that the participants had internal satisfaction for the profession based on the positive feedback they received from the patients, being able to help others, and challenging active work. In the psychological intervention part of the study, a volunteer group consisting of 8 female nurses and 1 administrative staff received a total of 5 sessions of cognitive behavioral group therapy as 3 separate psychotherapy groups. There were no statistically significant differences between the pretest and posttest measurements taken before and after the intervention to evaluate the general psychological problems, anxiety and worry levels, resilience and health cognitions of the participants. This study is an important data source in order to understand the experiences of healthcare professionals struggling during the epidemic process in the working environment, to reveal the psycho-social risks related to the workplace, to determine the measures that hospitals should take in the fight against the stress experienced, and to contribute to the determination of the roadmap for the interventions to be made in this regard. It is important to act with the awareness that there are psycho-social risks and resources specific to the organization within the cultural climate of each organization. There are many risk factors that can cause work-related burnout of employees within the framework of their own dynamics, and it is necessary to act with the awareness that the starting point in understanding these is the current employees in the organization. It is recommended that employees participate in all intervention studies and this should be encouraged by the organization's management.