Influence of COVID-19 on Mental Well-being of Health Care Professionals: A Case Study of NHS

This research proposal aims to investigate the influence of COVID-19 on mental well-being of health care professionals, with a case study of NHS. It includes a literature review, methodology, ethical issues, and expected findings.

Programme Name: BSc (Hons) in Health and Social Care (with Foundation Year)
Cohort Name:
Module Code: FND3003
Module Title: Research Methods in Social Science
Assessment Title: Research Proposal
Module Tutor:
Student Number: Your UoB ID
Date of Submission:
Word count: Include exact word count
Title Page: Write the Title of the Research
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Table of Contents (Prepare a Table of Contents)
Contents
1. Introduction (200 – 250 Words) 5
2. Aim and Objectives 5
3. Research Questions 5
4. Rationale for the Research (400 – 450 Words) 5
5. Literature Review (800 – 900 Words) 5
6. Methodology and Methods (500 – 550 Words) 6
7. Ethical Issues (150 - 200 Words) 6
8. Expected findings (100 -150 Words) 6
9. Temporal Plan 6
10. List of References 6
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Abstract (100 – 120 Words)
Aim and Objectives
To investigate the influence of COVID-19 on mental well-being of health care
professionals. A case study of NHS
 To comprehend the importance of mental wellbeing of doctors and nurses
 To define negative impression of COVID 19 on doctors
 To assess challenges faced during the course of COVID 19
3. Research Questions
 What is the importance of mental wellbeing of doctors and nurses
 Explain negative impact of COVID 19 on doctors
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 Define challenges faced at the time of COVID 19
Background (What/ purpose/aim/ rationale)
Methods
This research includes mixed method which is both qualitative and quantitative
method of research. These are helpful for completing the research effectively and
getting research outcome.
Findings/ Results
Due to lockdowns and the lack of public or private transportation, the majority of
people had major transportation issues. Because the majority of the women did not
own a car or know how to drive, they experienced additional family conflicts as a
result of requesting their spouses to drop one another off at work every day. All
participants with youth encountered numerous challenges in balancing family
responsibilities and COVID-19 responsibilities.
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1. Introduction
The foundation of health systems and the driving force behind universal care and
global health confidentiality are healthcare workers. Everyone can see their dedication
and professionalism throughout the pandemic: special people doing tremendous work
(Praharso, Pols and Tiliopoulos, 2020). Even under usual conditions, doctors face
high levels of work stress, but many are unwilling to disclose or seek help for mental
health issues, citing stigma as a reason. The infectious virus Sars-Covid-2 (COVID-
19) crisis adds to the pressure on doctors and the healthcare system as a whole, and
research shows that doctors are more likely to experience psychological distress as a
result of this stress. As a result, researchers argue that during the COVID-19 outbreak,
authoritative agencies and medical staff need to demonstrate effective leading
assistance and contribution to healthcare staff and their relatives, as well as the actions
taken for lowering the stereotypes surrounding mental well-being in medical industry.
The attainment of this aim can be completed by including ‘medical employees and
assistance procedures’ on the focus of top ranking managerial gatherings meetings on
a regular basis.
2. Aim and Objectives
To investigate the influence of COVID-19 on mental well-being of health care
professionals. A case study of NHS
 To comprehend the importance of mental wellbeing of doctors and nurses
 To define negative impression of Sars-Cov-2 on doctors
 To assess challenges faced during the course of Sars-Cov-2
3. Research Questions
 What is the importance of mental wellbeing of doctors and nurses
 Explain negative impact of COVID 19 on doctors
 Define challenges faced at the time of COVID 19
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4. Rationale for the Research (400 – 450 Words)
-
Because qualitative research prioritises the quality of information rather than the
number of participants, the 100 medical staff previously taking part in the research
provided sufficient information overload. Furthermore, conducting investigation with
qualitative method via telephonic conversations with its different limitations, despite
the quality contributions of investigator to address the situation. The complexities and
overall observational effect has been taken into account along with methodology
related factors which could have given us more information about the subject
(Gooding, 2019).
Practitioners are experiencing difficulty at jobs as during Sars-Cov-2 infection. Even
if challenges, medical practitioners have taken steps to ensure that the medical
situation is handled effectively. According to a past analysis (19), spirituality, stress
relief, and art therapy can serve to minimise regular mental degradation. In case of the
2005 pandemic of respiratory viruses (SARS), health workers taken several steps for
coping mental degradation caused by the medical crises. The factors which were used
for managing mental degradation avoiding news about just the SARS ebola outbreak,
small meetings after task where issues could've been communicated, and engaging in
other leisure pursuits (Zhou and et. al., 2020). Trying to support healthcare
professionals necessitates appropriate training, personal protective equipment, and
health care. Qualitative research is well-known in the field of health research for
yielding a wealth of data. In order to have a better insight of health workers'
individual experiences, opinions, opinions, behavior patterns, and sentiments during
the ebola outbreak, the research study begun to answer the following research
questions.
Research findings
The researchers work a lot harder and time to help make up for the limitations. We
were using the COREQ (aggregated conditions for revealing qualitative investigation)
questionnaire to ensure that deep discussion is completed and making data available
for the survey (Melnyk, 2020). The discussions provided did not limit to particular
queries, which allowed for compendium of a wealth of information. Every enterprise
which employed the respondent had a high rate of coordination failure among
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different administration sections, resulting in a chaotic environment. As a result, there
was an uncertainty among medical staff as well as the medical care users regarding
what types of procedures and policies need to be adopted in order to ensure creation
of safe environment which increased the possibility of spreading the disease further.
This study's capacity is its use of interpretive descriptive inquiry to examine what
questions medical practitioners face but also how they dealt with all of these hurdles
during the COVID-19 global epidemic. But in the other hand, collecting, analysing,
and maintaining a huge volume of data was hard (Hossain and et. al., 2019).
5. Literature Review
To understand the importance of mental wellbeing of doctors and nurses
It is very essential for medical professionals to have a good mental wellbeing. It helps
them to manage to roles and responsibilities effectively and complete patient care. It
is also important for doctors and nurses to keep themselves physically as well as
mentally fit as they have to provide treatment to different patients (Bacon, Ooms and
Gault, 2021). As humans, medical when being is a natural phenomenon that should be
present in order to have an active life. A good physical health among doctors and
nurses is very essential. Doctors can have several disorders which strike any person
such as depressive symptoms do two exhausting work life balance and stress.
Alcoholism and drug abuse can also be the risk factors for depression among medical
practitioners. There is another medical problem including bipolar disorder that can be
common in doctors if they are facing a lot of stress at workplace.
To determine negative impact of Sars-Cov-2 on medical staff
Covid 19 has negatively impacted the work life of medical practitioners. There are
several medical organisations and healthcare sector organisations which were facing
shortage of medical workers (Noonan and et. al., 2018). There were lot of registered
doctors who do not have practising medicines which enhanced the level of work being
given to medical professionals because of the demand of employees in the medical
public and private sectors. Medical practitioners were enduring are incredible bodily
burden and extreme amount of work which has led to enhancement in mental stress.
There was medical facility who were having few nurses and they had to work for 16
to 17 hours shift everyday. Moreover, there was distress regarding getting infected
from the virus which limited the number of employees joining the workplace
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(Cavanagh and et. al., 2020). There were few healthcare professionals who are young
and they did not knew how to respond to workload at the time of COVID-19 and they
were under serious depression at that time. There was also low social stigma which
was another challenge for health care professionals. Neighbours of several doctors
have stopped communicating with them and their families. Few doctors who were
living on rents were forced to leave the houses immediately. Medical professionals
are trained for thinking and acting in a steady manner in any type of medical
emergency but then also at the time of COVID 19, there were various doctors who
went under control and they did not know how to manage their stress level.
Healthcare professionals have to attend in surroundings which are affected by the
distress of getting infected (Parry and et. al., 2018). Despite that, doctors and nurses
have to Work Efficiently During COVID-19. There were several cases where they
had to witness the passing of other medical staff contributing their services to face the
healthcare crises which led to creation to gloomy atmosphere among medical staff. A
common problem occurred which was insomnia. There was also absence of
appreciative actions by medical staff resulting in rise of mental stress and burden.
To assess challenges faced at the time of COVID 19
Medical professionals have faced lot of challenges during the rising dispersal of Sars-
Cov-2 virus. It created lot of pressure on their mental wellbeing. Several doctors and
nurses have lost their lives while fighting against The battle of COVID-19. The main
problem which doctors have to face included ineffectiveness of governing authorities
and world health organization to work together and coordinate. Doctors have to
remain uncertain about the way treatment has to be provided for COVID-19 patients.
There were several uncertainties regarding the mental stress for medical professionals.
There were no regulations and rules followed properly at the initial level of cover 19
(Feuston and Piper, 2018). The patients were not wearing masks and doctors who
were treating them at that time also faced a lot of problems. Employees in the
healthcare industry also faced dissatisfaction because of some actions of the
government supporting discrimination. There was assistance from relatives and other
medical staff which was crucial at the time of this pandemic. Several healthcare
professionals have maintained continuous conversations with them in order to
maintain social distancing. They were not allowed to meet up their family members as
there was risk of spreading the infection. It was very hard for these practitioners to
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remain happy and satisfied at work. There was a lot of mental pressure without
support of friends and families. There were different rules and regulations provided
by organisations on medical practitioners and they have to follow it.
6. Methodology and Methods
Research methodology is defined as the the of performing the research activities and
attaining goals. This includes proper identification, selection, analysis and processing
of T data collected (Rawlings and Reuber, 2018). In context of present research
former an appropriate research methodology is used by the investigator in order to
come out with effective research results. Mentioned below is the research onion
framework which includes six aspects of research methodology:
Research philosophy: positivism
In this research, investigator has used positivism research philosophy the cause it
helps in managing an in depth analysis of the research topic. It also provides a
supportive as well as suitable way of managing the scientific as well as practical
knowledge about the research topic.
research approach: deductive
The process of conducting the research or study is known as research approach. This
is known as they are process used by the investigator in order to collect data for the
present research. Reductive approach is used in the present investigation so that there
is better understanding of the research concept by using the numerical facts and
figures (Logan, 2021).
Research strategy: survey method
This is part of research methodology which defines design or framework which is
used for collecting the data related to research. For present research, investigator is
using survey method in which data will be collected from respondents by asking them
questions through a prepared questionnaire. This will include questions related to
mental wellebing of medical professionals.
Research choice: qualitative and quantitative
For the present research, investigator has used both qualitative as well as quantitative
methods for collecting the research outcome. First hand information is taken through
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questionnaire and literature review is used for gathering data from previous studies
and research.
Data collection: The current study employs both primary and secondary data
collection methods. The questionnaire collects primary data, whereas the secondary
data is gathered from the past journals, articles, and research projects.
Sampling: random sampling
In this research, investigator has chosen respondents on the basis of random sampling.
The respondents were chosen from NHS hospital on random basis.
7. Ethical Issues
- Discuss topics such as confidentiality, informed consent, anonymity, data storage
and destruction, and deception avoidance, among others.
Validity - The research design must answer the research objectives and questions. As
a result, the survey's conclusions must be compatible with the issues and findings of
the research. Furthermore, according to research ethics, the methodologies used must
be directly related to the research topics.
Participation and Consent Should Be voluntary - No one should ever be forced to
participate in a study. This includes any sort of persuasion or dishonesty used to
acquire someone's trust. To participate in a study employing informed consent, people
must offer their explicit consent. A permission form can be viewed as an agreement
between the researcher and the participants to trust each other.Confidentiality
" The confidentiality and anonymity of study participants, as well as the secrecy and
privacy provided by them, must all be protected. There are instances, though, when
privacy and anonymity are compromised. If a participant is in danger, for example,
we must protect them. This may compel the release of private information.
Possibility of Harm
The researcher should take all reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of study
participants. In this scenario, we should focus on the risk-to-benefit ratio. The study
should be discontinued or altered if the risk outweigh the benefits.
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8. Expected findings Conclusion/recommendation
-Discuss what you will expect to find out from this research. You need to predict the
result of the research.
Excessive workload was caused by a lack of healthcare workers, a lack of knowledge
about just the virus, and a lack of basic training, among other factors. This resulted in
emotional stress. This result is in line with some of the existing research. Excessive
work strain was also linked to mental distress, insomnia, extreme tiredness, and fear
of infection in healthcare workers, according to a past analysis.
According to the above discussion, the insufficiency has resulted in an increase in the
rate of infection among healthcare workers. Insufficient personal protective
equipment (PPE) has been linked to the spread of viruses among healthcare workers
in several studies. Furthermore, wearing PPE for an extended period of time was a
significant challenge for participants, resulting in them drinking less water than was
necessary, potentially affecting their immunity.
9. Temporal Plan
-Develop a timeline for all the activities
Gantt chart
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10. List of References
Praharso, N.F., Pols, H. and Tiliopoulos, N., 2020. Mental health literacy of
Indonesian health practitioners and implications for mental health system
development. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 54, p.102168.
Gooding, P., 2019. Mapping the rise of digital mental health technologies: Emerging
issues for law and society. International journal of law and psychiatry, 67, p.101498.
Zhou, X., and et. al., 2020. The role of telehealth in reducing the mental health burden
from COVID-19. Telemedicine and e-Health, 26(4), pp.377-379.
Melnyk, B.M., 2020. Reducing healthcare costs for mental health hospitalizations
with the evidence-based COPE program for child and adolescent depression and
anxiety: a cost analysis. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 34(2), pp.117-121.
Hossain, M.M., and et. al., 2019. New mental health act in Bangladesh: unfinished
agendas. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(1), p.e1.
Bacon, I., Ooms, A. and Gault, I., 2021. The mental health associate practitioner
pathway.
Noonan, M., and et. al., 2018. Survey of midwives’ perinatal mental health
knowledge, confidence, attitudes and learning needs. Women and Birth, 31(6),
pp.e358-e366.
Cavanagh, N., and et. al., 2020. Compassion fatigue in healthcare providers: A
systematic review and meta-analysis. Nursing ethics, 27(3), pp.639-665.
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Logan, C. ed., 2021. Violent Extremism: A Primer for Mental Health Practitioners.
Routledge.
Parry, D.A., and et. al., 2018. Could exercise improve mental health and cognitive
skills for surgeons and other healthcare professionals?. British Journal of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery, 56(5), pp.367-370.
Feuston, J.L. and Piper, A.M., 2018. Beyond the coded gaze: Analyzing expression of
mental health and illness on instagram. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer
Interaction, 2(CSCW), pp.1-21.
Rawlings, G.H. and Reuber, M., 2018. Health care practitioners’ perceptions of
psychogenic nonepileptic seizures: a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative
studies. Epilepsia, 59(6), pp.1109-1123.
HSO3003 Research Methods in Social Science
Temporal Plan
Weeks (December 2021 – April 2022)
Activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1
1
12 13 14 15
Topic Selection
Lit. Search
Reading for Lit
Review
Aim and
Objectives
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Methods
Writing up
proposal
Formative
Feedback
Submission
Temporal Plan
Research Plan
Weeks (Feb 2021- May 2021)
Research Plan and
Activities
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Topic Selection
Literature Review
Aims and Objectives /
Research Questions
Reading and selecting
(4) literature review
Finalising Aims and
Objectives for
Secondary research
Methods / Excel
Ethics
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Results
Analysis of Result
Conclusion/Abstract
Formative Feedback
Completing final
research
Submission deadline
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