Strategies for preventing occupational stress in healthcare workers: past evidence, current problems

Abstract

The problem of occupational stress in healthcare workers is hardly new, but effective interventions in this area are lacking despite being sorely needed – especially in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The review by Ruotsalainen et al, (2015) in the Cochrane Corner includes 58 studies involving 7’188 healthy participants. Its results suggest that cognitivebehavioural therapy and mental and physical relaxation reduce stress more than no intervention but not more than alternative interventions, and that changing work schedules may lead to a reduction of stress. Other organisational interventions showed no effect on stress levels. However, the evidence is of low quality due to risk of bias and lack of precision. This Round the Corner commentary critically appraises the Cochrane review and attempts to put its findings into the current realworld context.