Fear of infections by healthcare workers in South East Nigeria during COVID-19 pandemic: Assessing the expected roles of social workers

The rapid spread and contagious nature of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remain a big threat to the healthcare system all over the world. Our study aimed to understand the fears among health workers in South East Nigeria during the outbreak of COVID-19, how their fears affected them psychologically, and the roles social workers played in assisting them. Thus, we guided our study with the questions: how did the fear of infections among healthcare workers in South East Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic impact their mental health and workplace behavior? In what ways did social workers help address these mental health challenges? A semi-structured interview guide was used to garner data from 24 health workers aged 28-60 at the Medical Center of the University of Nigeria, and the data were coded into Nvivo 12 software. Thematic categories emerged from the generated codes, and finally, three key themes including pandemic-induced fear, pandemic-induced health challenges, and perceived roles of social workers emerged. Findings showed that there were physical and psychological fears among the health workers, which resulted in emotional breakdown and stress due to overwork, which are risk factors for workplace behavioral health. It was also found that social workers in the hospital provided psychological support to both patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and the health workers themselves. We, therefore, recommend that hospital management boards make efforts to increase the workforce of the healthcare system and provide social support services, such as the services of social workers to reduce the strain on health workers, especially in the outbreak of pandemics.