The role of emotion regulation strategies on healthcare workers’ mental health during the COVID-19

During COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers’ mental health worsened, due to the severe risk factors they daily faced. Although several studies addressed the impact of this pandemic on their mental health, just a few of them focused on emotion regulation. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the role of emotion regulation strategies and the recovery process on health personnel’s mental health during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional and web-based study was conducted with 100 health professionals working in Spain during the first wave of COVID-19 (April-May, 2020). The survey included demographics, depression, PTSD, and emotional exhaustion as symptomatology, and several emotion regulation strategies and recovery variables as predictive factors. Regression analyses highlighted rumination and self-criticism as the main positive predictors of symptomatology and negative affect. Relaxation turned out to be a negative predictor for depression and emotional exhaustion. However, greater use of distraction also seemed to contribute to higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Finally, acceptance, psychological detachment and self-compassion were significant and positive predictors of positive affect. These results may help to design interventions to prevent psychological problems among healthcare workers and enhance better mental health especially in critical contexts.