2020 was impacted by the global outbreak of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease
covid-19. Due to the rapid spread of the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared
a pandemic and Slovenia declared epidemic for the first time in its history. Healthcare workers
were in the centre of health crisis facing various stressors at workplace. The purpose of this
thesis is to investigate stress among Slovenian healthcare workers during the covid-19
epidemic. The aim is to find out how levels of stress changed during the epidemic and to
investigate factors that contributed to this change, healthcare workers’ stress coping
mechanisms and level of social support received. By reviewing the literature discussing stress,
healthcare, past pandemics and covid-19 we prepared theoretical ground for the empirical part.
We used multi-methodological research approach and obtained data with a questionnaire and
semi-structured interviews. The participants of the research were healthcare professionals who
worked in the Slovenian healthcare system during the covid-19 epidemic. The complementary
method of the quantitative and qualitative approach helped us provide more comprehensive
analysis and interpretation of the topic. The results showed that the participants were exposed
to new stressors during covid-19, similar to those in past epidemics, and their stress levels
generally increased. However, there were some differences in the perception of stress among
healthcare workers, depending on past work experience, the contact with the most critical
patients, personal perception of stress and one's own ability to deal with it.
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