Table 5 Summary of Themes in Focus Group 2 on Stress and Mental Health
Theme | Description | Quote |
|---|---|---|
Challenges | 听 | 听 |
Emotional distress | Participants described their emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, including feelings of guilt, helplessness, and uncertainty. | 鈥淥ne time I didn鈥檛 feel well but I had tested negative so I worked a shift because my symptoms were similar to allergies, lots of sneezing and congestion. For me, it came with a lot of guilt, thinking 鈥極h my god, I just potentially exposed 60 people and a lot of them are old.鈥� I felt really bad because I made a lot of money while putting 60 people at risk.鈥� 鈥淒uring the pandemic, there鈥檚 this uncertainty like there鈥檚 no control over who gets covid and who doesn鈥檛. There鈥檚 also no control over who gets vaccination and who doesn鈥檛 or who wears a mask and who doesn鈥檛. Because you have no control over pretty much anything except yourself, it causes a lot of stress.鈥� 鈥淓ven if I was following all the rules, there were all these people who were not following the rules. So there was very little actually in my control about what was happening to me and my safety. That was probably the biggest drain on my mental health.鈥� |
Stressors | Participants described issues that were most stressful for their families, households, and schools in dealing with the pandemic, including staffing, changes in protocols, and constant trauma. | 鈥淔or cafeteria workers, it was a huge stressor for everyone to adapt to enormous changes at the last minute. The cafeteria staff and the teachers had to pivot from eating in the cafeteria to eating in the classroom when covid protocols came into place. That was a whole new skill set that cafeteria staff had to learn immediately. And there was a short period of flip flopping back and forth.鈥� 鈥淪o many people have left the industry during covid, so there are a lot of people now who are being given tasks and roles that maybe they鈥檙e not necessarily prepared for. So I think that causes a lot of acute stress at the moment just trying to push the food out.鈥� 鈥淭he whole lockdown and pandemic caused trauma because we lost our loved ones and good friends. Then the hurricane hit which was like trauma on top of trauma. So there has been a lot of trauma that hasn鈥檛 been addressed or taken care of when people have to go to work just to keep on going in their days as if nothing has happened.鈥� 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of uncertainty among people because you don鈥檛 know what you鈥檙e going to walk with every night. You could make 60 bucks or you could make 300 bucks. It鈥檚 really hard to count on that, so I think financial stress has been a huge source of anxiety for people.鈥� |
Mental health difficulties | Most participants strongly agree that substance abuse and addiction are prevalent among food service workers. Anxiety and depression are also described as common mental health issues in the industry. | 鈥淭he elephant in the room with the service industry is addiction, and that鈥檚 the number one biggest mental health issue in the industry. I鈥檓 sure we all know people that we鈥檝e worked with who died of a drug overdose. I鈥檓 not sure how much of it is self-medication because we don鈥檛 have access to mental healthcare but it鈥檚 definitely a huge huge problem.鈥� 鈥淚 had one patient that his anxiety significantly improved after the vaccine mandates were dropped because that was one of his biggest anxiety producing things, having to do that at the door and having people fight him.鈥� 鈥淔or addiction, people use alcohol to numb after a long day a lot of times. You kind of forget about how your body hurts, aches, and pains in the drink and think you can do it again.鈥� |
Successes | 听 | 听 |
Financial support | Participants agreed that being financially supported helped to mitigate their stress and support their mental health. | 鈥淭he fact that the pay rate has increased decently is something that has been better.鈥� 鈥淚 worked for a restaurant, and after hurricane Ida, they paid us $250 a day which helped a lot. It was a huge support because I was able to pay my bills and everything.鈥� 鈥淚 think the mutual aid that cropped up and is still happening in places was really huge and very affirming.鈥� |
Social support | Participants highlighted that the pandemic resulted in more communication, flexibility, and empathy from people. | 鈥淚 would agree that the pandemic definitely helped some people because some restaurants realized that they need to take better care of their staff.鈥� 鈥淧eople in general have been more understanding of you. And there has been some flexibility like mental health days.鈥� 鈥淐ommunication has been a little better just on a day to day basis with people.鈥� |
Future Needs | 听 | 听 |
Mental healthcare | Participants express a need for access to mental health services. Participants also agree that support groups or workshops would mitigate stress and mental health issues exacerbated by the pandemic. | 鈥淚f I could do it, I would love to provide healthcare that is provided through restaurants. ECM access to mental health professionals right now is extremely difficult.鈥� 鈥淚 think people would be interested in a program mixture of traditional therapy and urgent care where people could regularly meet but also pop in when they鈥檙e dealing with crises. Since telehealth is huge now, it could be helpful too.鈥� 鈥淔or people who may experience substance abuse due to stress, I was thinking that support groups could be helpful.鈥� 鈥淚t would help if the restaurants would not put a black mark on somebody who needed help in that area [substance abuse] and allow them the dignity to come back to work. I think it鈥檚 important that a person can work on something they need without being ostracized and not get their job.鈥� |