Assessing the role of emotion regulation between fear of COVID-19 and mental health among frontline healthcare workers

Abstract Research on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown that healthcare workers experienced more mental health problems than the general public during the pandemic due to their role as care providers. However, less research attention has been paid to the predictors of poor mental health among frontline healthcare workers in the COVID-19 pandemic. This current study therefore aimed to bridge this gap by examining the influence of fear of COVID-19 on mental health outcomes (somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction, and depression), and the moderating roles of emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) in this relationship. Data were collected from a sample of 81 (Males = 34; Females = 47) frontline healthcare workers in Ondo State, Nigeria via a web-based survey. Results of the study hierarchical regression analysis showed that fear of COVID-19 exacerbated mental health problems among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cognitive reappraisal was found to buffer the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and mental health outcomes. However, expressive suppression acted as an intensifier in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and mental health outcomes. Therefore, these findings implicate the need for cognitive reappraisal training for healthcare workers in the present pandemic and future disease outbreak.