Impact of mental health and work satisfaction on quality of life of healthcare professionals at Nairobi Hospital during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been documented to have had an impact on mental wellbeing and job satisfaction among healthcare professionals. Similar to the Ebola epidemic of 2014–2016, the pandemic was associated with reduced wellbeing for various reasons. The long and stressful working hours were linked to increased health worker dissatisfaction in broad studies. That said, the empirical understanding on whether and how this has affected mental health and quality of life, more so, in the Kenyan context is thin. The study employed a cross-sectional design to examine the association between mental health and work satisfaction on one hand, and quality of life of healthcare professionals on the other hand. Research was conducted at the Nairobi Hospital, one of the first hospitals in Kenya to start offering the full spectrum of COVID-19 management, from testing to critical care. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found positive relationships between the mental health, work satisfaction, and quality of life of healthcare workers. A unit increase in mental health factors led to a decrease in the quality of life. On the other hand, a unit increase in work satisfaction increased the quality of life of healthcare. The study recommends provision of stress relief activities such as the counselling and psychosocial support, sports and team building exercises and yoga (among others) as strategies to prevent mental stress. These could be executed alongside known interventions like introducing reliable health insurance, and improving remuneration to reduce staff turnover and boost morale.

Keywords: COVID-19, Mental health, work satisfaction, quality of life, The Nairobi Hospital