THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON PSYCHOLOGISTS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a deterioration in mental health among the general population, which saw an increase in anxiety and depressive symptoms and suicide rates. This has resulted in an unprecedented demand for mental health services nationally and globally. In particular, psychologists have an important role in mitigating the psychological impact of COVID-19. Yet, they are also not immune to the effects of COVID-19 on one’s mental wellbeing and may experience adverse mental health outcomes such as burnout as well. The present is a two-part study that will first examine the impact of COVID-19 on nine psychologists in Singapore through a focused group discussion (FGD). This provides a backdrop for the second part of the study, which will examine if professional support, or support from supervisors and coworkers, would increase resilience and in turn lower burnout. Overall, there was a lack of a mediation effect between professional support, resilience, and burnout. However, the FGD themes revealed that professional support, in addition to other resources, were nonetheless useful in overcoming the challenges during the pandemic.