Investigating the impact of financial concerns on symptoms of depression in UK healthcare workers : data from the UK-REACH nationwide cohort study

BACKGROUND: Exploration of the association between financial concerns and depression in UK healthcare workers (HCWs) is paramount given the current 'cost of living crisis', ongoing strike action and recruitment/retention problems in the National Health Service.

AIMS: To assess the impact of financial concerns on the risk of depression in HCWs, how these concerns have changed over time and what factors might predict financial concerns.

METHOD: We used longitudinal survey data from a UK-wide cohort of HCWs to determine whether financial concerns at baseline (December 2020 to March 2021) were associated with depression (measured with the Public Health Questionnaire-2) at follow-up (June to October 2022). We used logistic regression to examine the association between financial concerns and depression, and ordinal logistic regression to establish predictors of developing financial concerns.

RESULTS: A total of 3521 HCWs were included. Those concerned about their financial situation at baseline had higher odds of developing depressive symptoms at follow-up. Financial concerns increased in 43.8% of HCWs and decreased in 9%. Those in nursing, midwifery and other nursing roles had over twice the odds of developing financial concerns compared with those in medical roles.

CONCLUSIONS: Financial concerns are increasing in prevalence and predict the later development of depressive symptoms in UK HCWs. Those in nursing, midwifery and other allied nursing roles may have been disproportionately affected. Our results are concerning given the potential effects on sickness absence and staff retention. Policy makers should act to alleviate financial concerns to reduce the impact this may have on a discontent workforce plagued by understaffing.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2023

Erschienen:

2023

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:9

Enthalten in:

BJPsych open - 9(2023), 4 vom: 12. Juli, Seite e124

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

McBride, Martin [VerfasserIn]
Martin, Christopher A [VerfasserIn]
Teece, Lucy [VerfasserIn]
Irizar, Patricia [VerfasserIn]
Batson, Megan [VerfasserIn]
Lagrata, Susie [VerfasserIn]
Papineni, Padmasayee [VerfasserIn]
Nazareth, Joshua [VerfasserIn]
Pan, Daniel [VerfasserIn]
Leary, Alison [VerfasserIn]
Woolf, Katherine [VerfasserIn]
Pareek, Manish [VerfasserIn]
UK-REACH Study Collaborative Group [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Aetiology
Depressive disorders
Epidemiology
Health economics
Journal Article
Psychiatric nursing

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 31.07.2023

published: Electronic

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1192/bjo.2023.520

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM359353495