Longitudinal profile of post-traumatic symptoms in HealthCare Workers during COVID-19 pandemic: A latent transition model

Introduction: Pandemics have the potential to be considered traumatic event, increasing the risk of developing post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in HealthCare Workers (HCW). However, few longitudinal studies have evaluated the impact of prolonged exposure to the risk imposed by COVID-19. Our aim was to identify subgroups of HCW with profiles of PTSS, how this profile changed during the pandemic and which variables were related to these changes.Methods: We evaluated the levels of PTSS and psychological distress in a Brazilian HealthCare Workers' sample (n = 1398) in three waves of assessment: from May to June 2020 (Wave 1), December 2020 to February 2021 (Wave 2) and May to August 2021 (Wave 3), using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to identify subgroups with different profiles of symptms, and then, Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) was applied to examine changes in symptom profiles over time, including gender, psychiatric diagnosis history, and pandemic-related fears as covariates.Results: two profiles were identified: high-PTSS profile (Wave 1-23%; Wave 2-64% and Wave 3-73%) and a low-PTSS (Wave 1-77%; Wave 2-36% and Wave 3-27%). Being female, fear of contamination, and fearing financial problems were strong predictors of changes in the profile. In addition, the participants had a high probability of being in the high-PTSS in the long run.Conclusion: These results suggests that targeted interventions can mitigate the impact of pandemic. Providing financial support, and psychological support can be beneficial for those with psychiatric diagnoses and experi-encing bereavement.

Automated summary

This study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological distress and PTSD symptoms of Brazilian healthcare workers. Through multiple assessments at different time points, two subgroups of healthcare workers with high-PTSS and low-PTSS profiles were identified. Being female, fear of contamination, and fearing financial problems were strong predictors of changes in the profile.