Programs Implemented to Help People with Stress during Covid-19

Programs Implemented to Help People with Stress during Covid-19
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Programs Implemented to Help People with Stress during Covid-19
In the last two decades, three world viral infectious ailments, for instance, the "Middle East respiratory syndrome " MERS, " severe acute respiratory syndrome "SARS" and the Covid-19 disease, have happened worldwide, subjecting the lives of human beings to various risks and challenging people in communities, government, and workplace. On the other hand, these issues have affected educational institutions across all nations. Population studies mention that the consequences of Covid-19 on human lives have instigated nervousness, downheartedness, sleep disorder, and "post-traumatic stress disease" (PTSD). The covid-19 epidemic brought a lot of concerns. For example, most organizations directed their employees to work from home, closed schools, and encouraged students to start studying online. Conversely, the transport system got halted to contain the infections, and most economic activities changed to online transactions. Some employees were laid off because employers could not pay salaries due to business disruptions. Moreover, Covid-19 killed about 5.83 million people globally. Consequently, these issues subjected individuals to various stress levels because they needed ways for ways to survive in the communities.
Stress is an experience of uncontainable and extreme disquiet linked to numerous circumstances or activities. Symptoms of stress include fatigue, restlessness, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbances. On the other hand, stress can instigate headaches, worsening mental issues, demotivation at work, and increased consumption of alcohol and other unhealthy substances. These matters called for the adoption or implementation of comprehensive programs to deal in various places to aid people to deal with the hardships of unceasing Covid-19 virus. The paper discusses various programs implemented in communities, government, workplaces, and schools to help people with stress during COVID and their effectiveness.
The covid-19 pandemic affected healthcare facilities, especially providers, who treated patients testing positive for Covid-19 infection. Physical and emotional exhaustion contributed to the psychological distress among care providers because of the overloaded health systems, rapidly changing medical data, media control, and perception of self-risk when attending to patients with the infection in question (Kaye et al., 2021). On the other hand, care providers with children needing proper care during the pandemic suffered tremendous stress because their families needed them, but that could not happen because they swore an oath to help the sick and save the world. Luckily, most nations like the United States of America (USA) and Australia became mindful of their health workers by initiating comprehensive initiatives and programs to assist care providers in coping with stress in hospitals when managing patients with Covid-19 and other linked infections.
Implementing Education Programs to Inform Care Providers
Concerning Sultana et al. (2020), European nations such as the United Kingdom implemented awareness programs to inform providers of professional stress issues linked to emergency care. These programs were initiated intentionally to prepare physicians, nurses, and healthcare social workers to prepare psychologically for the impending hardship and stress in emergency care rooms (Maben & Bridges 2020). The awareness programs also aimed to moderate stigma to mental health concerns such as exhaustion and inculcate pliability among care providers in preventing work burnout (Fessell & Cherniss, 2020). The awareness programs managed to instill positive work skills, such as care providers viewing the issues of the Covid-19 epidemic as a prospect to innovate medical equipment and unleash their unswerving potential to contain the issue. Presently, the issues of Covid-19 have declined to confirm that the awareness initiated in healthcare facilities in the United Kingdom became successful.
Self-Care Interventions
Most healthcare organizations in the United States of America adopted self-care interventions to prevent work-linked stress and burnout among care providers in the emergency room for patients with severe Covid-19 health issues (Kar et al., 2020). Witnessing these patients stressed many care providers, which prompted hospitals to initiate mindful self-care programs. Workers were subjected to mindful training to promote their self-care and health. The mindful self-care programs increased resilience to stress developed in the hospital. It also promoted self-compassion and the QoL "quality of life" of healthcare professionals. Understandably, compassion for others and self in a care facility is necessary for facilitating a therapeutic setting. On the other hand, self-compassionate individuals respond to adversaries in an emotionally moderated model (Callus et al., 2020). Besides, Self-compassion or love is linked to a sequence of psychological capabilities such as contentment, wisdom, hopefulness, bravery, and medical exploration among care providers. It also leads to emotional intelligence and curiosity.
Mental Health Amenities
The radical creation of mental health amenities witnessed in most countries throughout the Covid-19 pandemic witnessed in the USA helped reduce work-related stress to care providers and other employees (Cullen et al., 2020). The world witnessed established business organizations developing multidisciplinary mental health professional groups to provide comprehensive psychological healthcare to employees seriously affected by the pandemic. Some of these employees lost their family members and friends to Covid-19 infection, leading to stress, while others were shocked by the pandemic's pressure on their lives. On the other hand, the multidisciplinary teams referred employees showing evidence of exhaustion to appropriate resources (Behrman et al., 2020). Moreover, the program led to the adoption of peer support sessions where employers allow employees to have two to three sessions to share their problems, joy, and ways of solving stress linked to the Covid-19 epidemic
The USA government embrace peer support among employees for the natural habit of taking of sick individuals; therefore, it provides them with an opportunity to also care about themselves and develop effective ways of assisting new care providers in feeling safe, loved, and welcome into the health system of helping patients with various infections. The Covid-19 pandemic also saw the adoption of digital technologies in most US healthcare facilities to improve and advance healthcare services and positive health outcomes among patients (Clipper, 2020). For example, the health facilities applied electronic medical archives and telemedicine to decrease the encumbered work experience among frontline physicians and nurses in Covid-19. These health facilities also provided mental health resources such as mobile phone applications to care providers to facilitate their work.
The Covid-19 affected community members to a greater extent. For example, it led to increased costs of living. The transport sector was closed to contain the pandemic leading to increased cost of essential products for human survival. On the other hand, business organizations also faced the increased cost of adopting safety compliance while also enduring a drop in demand for goods and services (Chen, 2021). Furthermore, most employees were laid off because organizations could manage their employees without substantive business activities. Notably, the workers from the informal sector became vulnerable since the majority didn't have social protection and access to quality medical care. Besides, they contribute the largest population in most third world countries. Without good survival and access to medical services, these individuals suffered greatly during the lockdown. Countries like the United States developed food relief programs to assist these individuals with the hardship instigated by the Covid-19 epidemic. Frydenberg et al. (2014) mention that basic needs such as food and money for purchasing other necessities could go unmet during health disasters, especially if it forces people to stay indoors. Failure to obtain these necessities leads to adverse psychological and mental health problems.
In April 2020, the USA federal government unrolled the USDA Covid-19 Food Assistance programs to assist the American communities and countries, especially in Africa and Asia. The sequencer contained two chief elements as "Direct support to farmers and Ranchers" and "USDA distribution and Purchase plan." The "Direct support to farmers and Ranchers" availed about 16 billion dollars to support losses for farmers where prices and market supply chain got affected (Hanson & Oliveira, 2012). The funds are meant to return farmers to the same financial position before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Consequently, the idea enabled farmers to reduce the prices of agricultural products enabling industries to purchase and sell to citizens at reasonable prices during the pandemic (Chen, 2021). The "USDA Purchase and Distribution" plan enabled the federal government to partner with local and regional producers whose workforce had been affected by the closure of hotels and restaurants to purchase three billion dollars in fresh produce, meat, and dairy (Lubben, 2020). They started by procuring fresh fruit and vegetables worth one hundred million dollars. On the other hand, the government dedicated one hundred million dollars to purchasing dairy products.
Restaurant Revitalization Fund
Covid-19 pandemic instigated unprecedented disruptions of the United States economy. The restaurant industry was the most hit. Shigihara (2020) argues that before the Covid-19 pandemic restaurant industry had increased revenue from 43 billion shillings in 1970 to about 860 billion dollars in 2019. Moreover, the restaurant industry became the second-largest private-sector employer in the USA. About 60% of adults worked in restaurants, and at least 50% of US citizens garnered their first employment from the restaurant sector. Between the years 2010 to 2018, middle-class restaurant job opportunities increased to 84% leading to the employment of many US citizens, including students.
Notably, the restaurant industry is diverse. For example, the restaurant sector employs about 54% of minorities and many women managers. The homeless and individuals with disabilities have received many chances to work in restaurants. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the restaurant sector began performing dismally, with workers struggling to survive following the massive layoffs and stress-linked to job loss. Bufquin and others support the issue in the research. Bufquin et al. (2021) mention that work status influences the mental well-being of employees. Notably, the remaining employees other than the laid-off ones working in the restaurant sector through the Covid-19 epidemic suffered high psychological stress levels due to pressure exerted by the top management to force them to work (Besser et al., 2020). Most business organizations dismiss some employees and overburden the remaining to execute vacant roles.
On the other hand, the laid-off individuals from restaurant sectors engaged in binge drinking of liquors and substances. These issues instigated stress in their lives (Lippert et al., 2021). Some of the employees got stressed owing to fear of getting diseased by the Covid-19 infection. Furthermore, the top management in every business organization failed to exercise integrity in reviewing operating procedures during the Covid-19 epidemic without implementing comprehensive remuneration programs to motivate employees to work efficiently during overtime.
Similarly, in their research, Chen and Eyoun (2021) disclose that some of the participants mentioned decreased job autotomy with the unrelenting closures and privation of lucidity on safety and well-being protection policies. Others confessed that their employers decreased salaries and rewards for well-done jobs and increased job demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to stress and frustrations. Consequently, the retained employees, especially the managers and supervisors, got burdened with multiple roles.
The USA government ended up losing a lot of revenues and customs duties from local and foreign tourists. For example, the NRA anticipated about 5 to 7 billion job losses. By 2020, about 5.5 employees were laid off in the restaurant sector (Patel & Devaraj 2021). Similarly, the NRA lost about 185 billion dollars in sales and anticipated losses to 240 billion dollars. Approximately 10% of restaurants were shut down permanently, rendering 3 million individuals unemployed. About 40% of restaurants operating anticipated to close down without any relief package from the government. Concerning the stake at hand, the USA government was forced to take affirmative action to help the restaurant industry (Bianchi et al., 2021). Readers should notice that the government provided these programs to contain stress-related issues due to lack of survival and unemployment.
The USA federal government implemented the Restaurant Revitalization Fund to revive restaurants and hotels by providing enough funding. These funds continue to assist hotels in operating despite the restricting policies on the Covid-19 pandemic (Kyehong Min, 2007). Furthermore, the program provided restaurants and hotels with funding equal to the losses. Some companies were awarded up to ten million dollars. Interestingly, the awarded business organization doesn't need to repay as long as they are used reasonably. The USA government ensured that the Restaurant Revitalization fund required a few legal formalities to shorten the application process and ensure hotels get the funds swiftly to start a business. In the study, Patel and Devaraj (2021) enquire if Restaurant Revitalization Fund served its intended purpose. They found out that th...