‘We were on our knees long before COVID’: How healthcare workers experienced the compassionate care model during COVID-19

Abstract

Aim: This qualitative study aimed to explore the impact of a novel compassion-based intervention on healthcare workers during a pandemic. Sample: Participants were N = 10 healthcare workers (HCW) recruited from a healthcare organisation in Northern Ireland, including nurses, allied health professionals, managerial staff and administrative staff. The sample was 80% female with an average age of 45.1 years. Intervention: All participants engaged in a compassion-based staff support psychological intervention. The ‘compassionate care’ intervention was based on the compassion-focussed staff support model. Modalities included face-to-face, remote, individual and group intervention, offered by clinical psychologists and psychotherapists. Method: Ethical approval was obtained through the researcher’s academic institution. After obtaining informed consent, participants completed individual interviews, analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Findings highlighted model appropriateness and feasibility, detailing post-intervention changes. Three themes were generated. The first two, Preparing for war: A threat without boundary and Masking the pain: Externalising resistance to compassion, describe the transition from an initial burnout state to a state of derealisation via avoidance coping. The final theme, Reconnection: Returning to compassion, highlights how participants rehabilitated via the intervention, reconnecting with relationships and personal values. Conclusion: Participants reported personal and professional experiential changes relating to compassion and resilience, while noting organisational blocks to compassion. The model appears appropriate across a variety of presentations and levels of chronicity of distress, across age, disciplines and gender groups, and for both managers and non-managerial staff. Participants reported its usefulness in clinical and administrative settings, as well as application of the skills gained to settings outside work.