‘It’s intense’ – A mixed-methods analysis of how the early COVID-pandemic impacted on the wellbeing of practitioners in a UK homeless organization

ABSTRACT

Knowledge about the wellbeing of medical professionals working through the COVID-19 pandemic and its practice implications is expanding extensively. It remains, however, sparse for 'essential' (aka critical) community practitioners. We addressed this gap using a repeated-measures analysis of COVID-pandemic wellbeing experiences of critical, homeless-sector practitioners. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, capitalizing on a pre-pandemic needs-analysis, longitudinally followed 42 practitioners (30 support staff and 12 project managers) in a single, national UK-based homeless-support organization. Practitioners completed measures, prior to and six months into the COVID-pandemic, of: mental wellbeing, secondary traumatic stress (STS), burnout and compassion satisfaction. Our qualitative questions captured practitioners’ wellbeing, working practice and support experiences in COVID-times. While the pandemic detrimentally impacted on levels of STS, burnout, and general wellbeing in support staff, managers’ mental and professional wellbeing remained consistent with their pre-pandemic scores. Our qualitative analysis identified intense stressors in support staff (not shared by project managers) which hampered client-practitioner relationships and encouraged 'them-and-us' support staff-manager dynamics. The identified nuanced (and contrasting) stressors experienced by practitioners in a national UK homeless-support organization offer insight into what residual and new wellbeing challenges need to be addressed in research and practice as we recover and progress from the pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Homelessness workforce
• professional wellbeing
• secondary traumatic stress
• burnout
• mixed-methods

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the practitioners who participated in this research. We also thank Ummul Humayra, Abigail O’Shea, Mira Osman, and Naomi Lea for their contributions to the 2019 data collection. The research was funded by the host organization where it took place.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the first author. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions, i.e., their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christel Schneider

Christel Schneider, D.Phil., is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Bath (United Kingdom).

Natalia Masztalerz

Natalia Masztalerz, M.Sc., is an Assistant Psychologist at Elysium Healthcare (United Kingdom).

Christopher W. Hobson

Christopher Hobson, Ph.D., DClinPsy, is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Cardiff University (United Kingdom).

Maharin Ahmed

Maharin Ahmed, M.Sc., is an Assistant Psychology at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (United Kingdom).

Katherine H. Shelton

Katherine Shelton, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Cardiff University (United Kingdom).