Stress beliefs moderate the impact of COVID‐19 related work stress on depressive, anxiety and distress symptoms in health care workers

Abstract

Health care workers are at increased risk for mental health issues due to high psychological and physical job demands. According to a recent study, stress beliefs (i.e., believing stress to be detrimental to one's health) might influence physicians' mental health in response to a naturalistic stressor (COVID‐19 hospital working conditions). Due to a small sample size and high alpha error inflation, the suggested association needs to be interpreted with caution. The current study aims to replicate those findings in a larger sample. A cross‐sectional survey among N = 418 (64.1% female; Median age = 30–39 years) physicians and nurses of a large German medical centre was conducted during the COVID‐19 pandemic (May/June 2021). Perception of pandemic related increase of work stress was assessed via self‐report. Stress beliefs were assessed with the Beliefs About Stress Scale, and mental health symptoms were assessed with the 21‐item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Stress beliefs moderated the association between increased work stress and mental health symptoms. Increased work stress was associated with increased depressive, anxiety and distress symptoms only in health care workers with medium (simple slope = 2.22, p < .001; simple slope = 1.27, p < .001; simple slope = 3.19, p < .001) and high (simple slope = 3.13; p < .001; simple slope = 1.66, p < .05; simple slope = 4.33, p < .001) negative stress beliefs. Among health care workers with low negative stress beliefs increased work stress was not associated with increased depressive, anxiety and distress symptoms. This confirms negative stress beliefs as variable of interest in research on the impact of stress on mental health in health care workers.