Publications by authors named "Ruth D Neill"

Many health and social care (HSC) professionals have faced overwhelming pressures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As the current situation is constantly changing, and some restrictions across the UK countries such as social distancing and mask wearing in this period (May-July 2021) began to ease, it is important to examine how this workforce has been affected and how employers can help rebuild their services. The aim of this study was to compare cross-sectional data collected from the HSC workforce in the UK at three time points during the COVID-19 pandemic: Phase 1 (May-July 2020), Phase 2 (November 2020-January 2021) and Phase 3 (May-July 2021).

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Maternity services cannot be postponed due to the nature of this service, however, the pandemic resulted in wide-ranging and significant changes to working practices and services. This paper aims to describe UK midwives' experiences of working during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study forms part of a larger multiple phase research project using a cross-sectional design based on an online survey.

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Nurse, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), along with other health and social care colleagues are the backbone of healthcare services. They have played a key role in responding to the increased demands on healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper compares cross-sectional data on quality of working life, wellbeing, coping and burnout of nurses, midwives and AHPs in the United Kingdom (UK) at two time points during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve around the world, it is important to examine its effect on societies and individuals, including health and social care (HSC) professionals. The aim of this study was to compare cross-sectional data collected from HSC staff in the UK at two time points during the COVID-19 pandemic: Phase 1 (May-July 2020) and Phase 2 (November 2020-January 2021). The HSC staff surveyed consisted of nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, social care workers and social workers from across the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the link between COVID-19 related media consumption and changes in mental health, specifically looking at anxiety and depression levels.
  • Data was collected through an online survey assessing participants' mental health using established scales, revealing a strong association between high media usage and increased mental health issues.
  • The study concludes that more media exposure correlates with higher anxiety and depression levels, emphasizing the need for future research to explore this relationship over time and properly assess cause and effect.
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Background: Accessing support services for depression has been historically difficult given the societal stigma that exists regarding the condition. Recent advances in digital technologies continue to be postulated as a potential panacea yet the results from research trials have been mixed with a range of effect sizes.

Methods: This article offers a different perspective by presenting a panel of end users (co-researchers) with qualitative interview data ( = 8) taken from a feasibility RCT of a group based video-conferencing service for depressed adults.

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