The coronavirus pandemic has necessitated extraordinary human resilience in order to preserve and prolong life and social order. Risks to health and even life are being confronted by workers in health and social care, as well as those in roles previously never defined as “frontline”, such as individuals working in community supply chains. The strategy adopted by the UK government in facing the challenges of the pandemic was markedly different from other countries. As part of a larger, longitudinal work (the CV19Heroes Project), this study examined what variables were associated with resilience, burnout, and wellbeing in frontliners, and whether or not these differed between the UK and Ireland. UK-based workers reported lower wellbeing than the Ireland-based participants. In multivariate models, both psychological and pandemic-related variables were associated with outcomes in these workers, and these differed by country. The findings provide evidence that the different strategies adopted by each country may have impacted the welfare of frontline workers, with higher detriment observed in the UK.

Presenting Author: Dr Rachel C. Sumner – HERA Lab, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK