Background Mental health manifestations such as depression and anxiety disorders became more marked during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as frontline healthcare workers struggled to maintain high-quality intrapartum care and essential health services. Aim This study aimed to identify maternity healthcare providers’ self-perceptions of changes in their feelings of mental well-being. Setting Ten midwife obstetric units and the labour wards of four district hospitals in Tshwane Health District, South Africa. Methods We conducted an anonymous, cross-sectional survey amongst a convenience sample of 114 maternity healthcare workers to gauge the changes in healthcare workers’ experience and perceptions of well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four items measured the perceived changes on a scale of 0–10 for the periods before and during COVID-19, respectively, namely feelings of fear or anxiety, stress, depression and anger. Results The majority of participants were professional nurses (37%) and advanced midwives (47%). They reported a significant change in well-being from before the pandemic to during the pandemic with regard to all four items ( p < 0.0001). The biggest ‘before-during’ difference was in perceptions of fear or anxiety and the smallest difference was in perceptions of anger. A framework was constructed from the open-ended responses to explain healthcare workers’ understanding and perceptions of increased negative feelings regarding their mental well-being. Conclusion The observed trends in the changes in healthcare workers’ self-perceptions of their mental well-being highlight the need for further planning to build resilient frontline healthcare workers and provide them with ongoing mental health support and improved communication pathways.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Anxiety, Depression, Stress, mental health, fear, Support, anger, maternity healthcare workers, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic, hospital, healthcare worker, South Africa, Health, response, healthcare, Health services, change, Care, Pathways, Nurse, cross-sectional survey, manifestation, Anxiety Disorder, District, participant, Mental, setting, highlight, Result, identify, reported, conducted, majority, changes in, maintain, explain, build, frontline healthcare worker, obstetric unit, 【제목키워드】 South Africa, healthcare, maternity, District,