Work engagement and psychological distress of health professionals during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Aims To describe the level of work engagement of active health care professionals during the COVID‐19 pandemic, and its relationship with psychological distress according to the professional category. Background Health care professionals working on the front line of the COVID‐19 pandemic are at risk of psychological distress, and work engagement could be a positive attitude that could serve as a protective factor. Methods Cross‐sectional observational study of 1,459 health care professionals. Psychological distress was measured with the General Health Questionnaire and work engagement with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Data were analysed with bivariate analyses and correlations. Results Psychological distress was reported by 80.6% of health care professionals. Work engagement as high with a total mean score of 5.04 (SD = 1.14). The results showed that distressed professionals showed significantly lower levels of work engagement. Conclusions The present study identified psychological distress and work engagement experienced by health care professionals during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Most of the variables included in the study revealed a significant relationship with psychological distress and work engagement. Implications for Nursing Management The relationship between the working conditions with psychological distress and work engagement suggests that improvements in the workplace are needed to promote protective measure for the mental health of health care professionals.