Understanding the needs of health care workers in Singapore during the COVID-19 outbreak: A qualitative analysis.

Background: A successful public health response during the COVID-19 pandemic pivots on the ability of health care workers (HCWs) to work through immense workplace-related physical and psychological pressures.

Objective: The aim of current study was to explore support needs of HCWs during the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore and to identify implications for practice and workplace policies.

Methods: A descriptive qualitative approach was adopted in this study. HCWs from a major public health care cluster in Singapore (n = 612) responded to an open-ended question in an online survey. Results were analyzed using content analysis via an inductive approach.

Results: Five main themes that borrows from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs emerged from content analysis, with 17 categories under the themes. The 5 main themes are: physical needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs.

Conclusions: Findings from this study indicate that there were many unmet needs among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. An overview of various need areas identified in this study may guide future research and development of interventions to mitigate the negative impact of disease outbreaks on HCWs.