Posttraumatic stress symptom trajectories following exposure to population-level trauma: findings from the COVID-19 Healthcare Staff Wellbeing Survey

Background: <br/>The COVID-19 pandemic has been described as a prolonged societal trauma providing new understanding of long-term posttraumatic stress reactions both generally and in specific at-risk populations.<br/> <br/>Aim: <br/>The present study examined the longitudinal course of PTSD symptomatology within one of the most high-profile risk groups (i.e., healthcare staff). <br/><br/>Method: <br/>The sample comprised 439 healthcare staff who completed the Northern Ireland longitudinal COVID-19 Staff Wellbeing survey on a minimum of three out of four distribution time points. The survey was administered repeatedly over four years spanning both peri- and post-pandemic periods (2020 – 2023) and contained the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) as well as bespoke items on COVID-19, demographics, occupational issues, and support factors. <br/> <br/>Results: <br/>Three distinct classes emerged from a 3-class Latent Class Growth Analysis model. A ‘resilient’ group (74%) displayed symptoms that remained below cut-offs for clinically significant moderate-severe post-traumatic stress throughout the pandemic, whereas a ‘recovering’ group (23%) exhibited moderate-severe symptoms during the pandemic which then decreased to subthreshold levels post-pandemic. A key at-risk group was the ‘chronic’ class (4%), which had moderate-severe posttraumatic stress symptoms peri-pandemic that continued to increase post-pandemic. Significant predictors of the ‘recovering’ and ‘chronic’ classes included perception of poor communication within the healthcare organisation; increased exposure to COVID-19 outside their work; and increased personal health risk factors for COVID-19.<br/><br/>Conclusions: <br/>Post-pandemic PTSD monitoring and support for healthcare staff may be warranted alongside the development of internal communication strategies within healthcare systems to protect staff and services going forward.