A Qualitative Study of the COVID-19 Response Experiences of Public Health Workers in the United States

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Author(s)Scales, Sarah E.
Author(s)Patrick, Elizabeth
Author(s)Stone, Kahler W.
Author(s)Kintziger, Kristina W.
Author(s)Jagger, Meredith A.
Author(s)Horney, Jennifer A.
Date Accessioned2022-06-02T20:33:52Z
Date Available2022-06-02T20:33:52Z
Publication Date2021-12-17
DescriptionThis is the original submission version (pre-peer review) of the following article: Scales, Sarah E., Elizabeth Patrick, Kahler W. Stone, Kristina W. Kintziger, Meredith A. Jagger, and Jennifer A. Horney. 2021. “A Qualitative Study of the COVID-19 Response Experiences of Public Health Workers in the United States.” Health Security 19 (6): 573–81. https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2021.0132, which has now been formally published in final form at Health Security at https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2021.0132. This original submission version of the article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers’ self-archiving terms and conditions. This article will be embargoed until 12/17/2022.en_US
AbstractThe mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline, patient-facing healthcare staff have been described in several studies, but the effects of the COVID-19 response on the US public health workforce have not been well characterized. In early 2021, we conducted interviews with a subset of public health practitioners in the United States who participated in a cross-sectional survey and indicated their willingness to participate in a follow-up interview. An interview guide was developed to collect information about professional roles since the start of the pandemic, aspects of the individual COVID-19 response that impacted mental health, and aspects of the organizational/institutional COVID-19 response that impacted mental health, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of, opportunities for, and threats to public health professionals and organizations going forward. Interviews were transcribed and inductively coded to identify themes. Of the 48 people invited to participate, 24 completed an interview between January 28 and February 23, 2021. Five key themes were identified through inductive coding of interview transcripts: (1) teamwork and workplace camaraderie, (2) potential for growth in the field of public health, (3) considerations for adaptive work environments (eg, remote work, work out of jurisdiction, transition to telework), (4) politicization of response, and (5) constrained hiring capacity and burnout. After more than a year of public health emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critically important to understand the detrimental and supportive factors of good mental health among the public health workforce.en_US
CitationScales, Sarah E., Elizabeth Patrick, Kahler W. Stone, Kristina W. Kintziger, Meredith A. Jagger, and Jennifer A. Horney. 2021. “A Qualitative Study of the COVID-19 Response Experiences of Public Health Workers in the United States.” Health Security 19 (6): 573–81. https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2021.0132.en_US
ISSN2326-5108
URLhttps://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/30949
Languageen_USen_US
PublisherHealth Securityen_US
KeywordsCOVID-19en_US
Keywordspublic health preparedness/responseen_US
Keywordsepidemic management/responseen_US
Keywordsburnouten_US
Keywordsmental healthen_US
TitleA Qualitative Study of the COVID-19 Response Experiences of Public Health Workers in the United Statesen_US
TypeArticleen_US
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