Navigating dual crises: mental health of Czech health care workers during the Ukrainian refugee influx and COVID-19 pandemic

: European health care workers recently experienced serious challenges to their mental health. Following the extremely stressful experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine caused a humanitarian influx of refugees in need of social and healthcare. We aimed to explore: (1) how working wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of psychotraumatology Vol. 16; no. 1; p. 2455247
Main Authors: Janoušková, Miroslava, Šeblová, Jana, Brennan Kearns, Pavla, Kučera, Matěj, Kuklová, Marie, Pekara, Jaroslav, Seblova, Dominika
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Taylor & Francis 01.12.2025
Taylor & Francis Group
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Anxiety - epidemiology
Anxiety - psychology
Basic
Burnout, Professional - epidemiology
Burnout, Professional - psychology
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - psychology
COVID-19 pandemic
Czech Republic - epidemiology
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - psychology
emotional strain
Female
Health Personnel - psychology
Health Personnel - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Male
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Migración
Migration
Pandemics
psychological distress
Refugees - psychology
Russian-Ukrainian war
SARS-CoV-2
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Ukraine - ethnology
Czech Republic
Ukraine
guerra ruso-ucraniana
COVID-19 pandemic
malestar psicológico
Russian-Ukrainian war
Migration
pandemia de COVID-19
Migración
psychological distress
emotional strain
ISSN:2000-8066, 2000-8066
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:: European health care workers recently experienced serious challenges to their mental health. Following the extremely stressful experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine caused a humanitarian influx of refugees in need of social and healthcare. We aimed to explore: (1) how working with refugees has affected the mental well-being of health care workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) the nature of health care workers' emotional strain related to the refugee situation and the war in Ukraine. : We used a combination of quantitative regression analyses and qualitative content analysis to assess data collected by an online questionnaire in 2022. The study included 1121 health care workers from the Czech arm of the international HEROES Study. : Quantitative findings did not indicate that working with Ukrainian refugees was reliably associated with a greater occurrence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, distress, or burnout. Qualitative analysis revealed five categories of emotional strain: impacts on working conditions, emotional reactions to refugees and the war, comparisons with the COVID-19 pandemic, and coping strategies. : This study highlights the resilience of health care workers but also points to the need for ongoing support to address the complex emotional challenges they face during health crises.
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Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2455248.
ISSN:2000-8066
2000-8066
DOI:10.1080/20008066.2025.2455247