Coronavirus and Its Impacts on Health Workers Retention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis

Background: The present study aimed to determine the prerequisites and requirements for retention of human resources during the Covid-19 disaster. It was tried in this study to systematically review the challenges and prerequisites, strategies, and measures related to the retention of health workers during the disaster.Methods: This is a systematic review and meta-synthesis of all the articles related to the factors affecting the retention of human resources during the Covid-19 disaster. The articles were searched using the keywords Retention, Human resource, and COVID-19 in the following databases without a time limit: PubMed, Scopus, and Web of science. To select the studies, the titles, abstracts, and full texts that complied with the inclusion criteria of the present systematic review were examined, and the 226 preliminary results and abstract were screened. Finally, 23 full texts were obtained, and regarding the type and nature of the materials extracted from the studies, a meta-synthesis was used to analyze and aggregate the results of the systematic review.Results: The 23 articles included in the systematic review and meta-synthesis were reviewed, and the effects of the Covid-19 disaster on the healthcare staff and the retention strategies were considered as the main themes of the study. In this regard, stigma and violence against the staff, burnout and stress, increased staff workload, acquisition of communication skills, employees' mental and physical health, employee safety during disaster, staff mobilization to assist the current forces, expansion of cyberspace infrastructures, and motivational-health incentives were selected as codes.Conclusion: Retention or non-retention of the personnel during or after a disaster can be caused by the multifaceted effects of the crisis on people. Thus, a combination of several appropriate strategies should be used to respond to it in order to reduce the adverse effects of the disaster. Also, aligning the personnel can help using their synergistic power to face and respond to the challenges ahead.

Estimating Acceptability of Financial Health Incentives

A growing body of evidence suggests that financial incentives can influence health behavior change, but research on the public acceptability of these programs and factors that predict public support have been limited. A representative sample of U.S. adults ( N = 526) were randomly assigned to receive an incentive program description in which the funding source of the program (public or private funding) and targeted health behavior (smoking cessation, weight loss, or colonoscopy) were manipulated. Outcome variables were attitude toward health incentives and allocation of hypothetical funding for incentive programs. Support was highest for privately funded programs. Support for incentives was also higher among ideologically liberal participants than among conservative participants. Demographics and health history differentially predicted attitude and hypothetical funding toward incentives. Incentive programs in the United States are more likely to be acceptable to the public if they are funded by private companies.