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STUDY PROTOCOL article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1340181
This article is part of the Research Topic

Women in Science: Public Mental Health 2023

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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being, work conditions, and education of early career psychiatrists in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO): Study Protocol

Seyedeh Reihaneh Hosseini1 Ahmad Hajebi2 Mohammadreza Shalbafan2* Farnaz Ghannadi3 Amine Larnaout4 Marwa A. Nofal5 Tomasz M. Gondek6 Mariana Pinto da Costa7
  • 1Institute for Cognitive Science Studies (ICSS), Iran
  • 2Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
  • 3Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
  • 4Tunis El Manar University, Tunisia
  • 5Helwan Mental Health Hospital, Egypt
  • 6Other, Poland
  • 7King's College London, United Kingdom

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic placed great strain on healthcare professionals, leading to a substantial resulting in significant impact and a redistribution of the workforce redistribution. Despite the active involvement of the Eastern Mediterranean Region Office (EMRO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) actively involvement in managing mental health crises, there is a knowledge gap concerningregarding the working conditions and training opportunities available for early career psychiatrists (ECPs) during the pandemic period.Objectives: This study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ECPs, and how it affected their well-being, employment, and educational opportunities.Methods: A mixed methods study has been conducted in Iran, Egypt, and Tunisia, three EMRO member countries. It includesencompassed a cross-sectional survey with self-reported questions, and a qualitative study with individual in-depth interviews.Discussion: The findings of this study will raise awareness to the working conditions of ECPs within the EMRO region and its member societies, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The results will serve as a basis for encouraging supervisors and policymakers and supervisors to mitigate the pandemic's impact on psychiatric training, strengthening healthcare systems' preparedness, and equipping early career psychiatrists with the necessary skills to deal with the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19, Early career psychiatrists, psychiatric trainees, Work conditions, Education, wellbeing, Mental Health, EMRO

Received: 17 Nov 2023; Accepted: 08 Jan 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Hosseini, Hajebi, Shalbafan, Ghannadi, Larnaout, Nofal, Gondek and Pinto da Costa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Dr. Mohammadreza Shalbafan, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 14496, Tehran, Iran