Facing pandemic challenges: Helping health care professionals cope.

Abstract

Health care professionals experience stress and burnout at elevated rates. Pandemics, such as the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), bring additional concerns, including fears of infection, increased workplace demands, and uncertainty due to limited information. The manner in which health care workers respond to the unpleasant thoughts and feelings that arise in this context may be important to their ability to cope with stressors. Acceptance and commitment therapy/training (ACT) offers a promising approach for supporting health care professionals. ACT has been used to address a number of behavioral concerns, including promoting better workplace function, reducing stress, and targeting difficulties termed psychopathology, and has received support within health care populations. Behavioral providers can help health care employees choose to engage in behavior that is consistent with their values and avoid unhelpful responses to private events. Concerns relevant to this population and adaptations of ACT exercises are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)