Table 4 Characteristics and findings of studies capturing mental health among medical assistants in Germany (2002–2022)
Refe-rence nr | Authors | Publi-cation year | n MAa | Study design | Aim/purpose of the study | Concepts used to capture mental health | Instru-ments used to capture mental health | Main results reported with potential score (if relevant) and value | Critical cut-offx |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
[39] | Degen et al. | 2021 | 250 | Quantitative, cross-sectional | To report the baseline characteristics of participants of an intervention study, focusing on job satisfaction and perceived chronic stress | Value range 0–48, with higher scores indicating higher levels of perceived stress in the past 3 months; mean (SDd) | |||
Chronic stress | TICS-SSCSy | 19.62 (9.07) | No | ||||||
[40] | Dreher et al. | 2021 | 2150 | Quantitative, cross-sectional | To investigate the prevalence of attitudes, stressors and work-related outcomes related to 2020 SARS-CoV-2 outbreak among MA working in inpatient and outpatient settings and to identify potential determinants of those outcomes | Reported as prevalence of a positive screening | |||
Depression | PHQ-2z | 29.9% | Not calculated for prevalences | ||||||
Generalized anxiety disorder | GAD-2aa | 42.6% | |||||||
[41] | Erler et al. | 2012 | 15 | Quantitative, longitudinal | To describe the effects of an intervention on work satisfaction and burnout risk in the explorative evaluation of that intervention | Value range 0–100, with higher scores indicating higher exhaustionac; mean | |||
Burnout | CBIab | 44.64 | No | ||||||
Cognitive stress symptoms | COPSOQc | 27.68 | No | ||||||
[42] | Fauser et al. | 2020 | 1438 | Quantitative, cross-sectional | To determine the predictive value of the dimensions of the ERI model for the construct burnout in a sample of MA in Germany | Value transformed into range 0–100, with higher scores indicating higher exhaustion; mean (SDd) | |||
Burnout | CBI | 57.2 (20.05) | Yes | ||||||
[60] | Karlsen et al. | 2021 | 40 | Quantitative, cross-sectional | To evaluate the differential stress inventory (DSI) by evaluating the objective and subjective stress differences in the five DSI types in the occupational setting | Reported as n, MA categorized into DSI types | |||
Stress | DSIad | 1) Normal: 21 | Not calculated for any of the values | ||||||
2) Overstressed: 4 | |||||||||
3) Stress resistant: 8 | |||||||||
4) Low stress/high coping: 4 | |||||||||
5) High stress/high coping: 3 | |||||||||
[61] | Viehmann et al. | 2017 | 550 | Quantitative, cross-sectional | To analyze the prevalence of chronic stress for general practitioners and MA | Reported as median (IQRj) | |||
Chronic stress | TICS-SSCSy | 16 (12.25) | Not calculated for any of the values | ||||||
Applying DEGS1ae cut-off for high stress (TICS-SSCS ≥ 23), n (%) | |||||||||
Prevalence of high strain among MA due to chronic stress | 550 (26.4) | ||||||||
[49] | Vu-Eickmann et al. | 2018 | 887 | Quantitative, cross-sectional | To examine the psychosocial working conditions of MA and possible associations with health outcomes, quality of care indicators and the intention to leave | Mean (SD) | |||
Depressiveness | PHQ-2 | 1.56 (1.46) | No | ||||||
Anxiety | GAD-2 | 1.47 (1.66) | No | ||||||
n (%) | |||||||||
Prevalence of depressiveness | PHQ-2 | 153 (17.45) | Not calculated for prevalences | ||||||
Prevalence of anxiety | GAD-2aa | 177 (20.14) | |||||||
[50] | Zaroti, S. | 2015 | 586 | Quantitative, cross-sectional | To explore what psychosocial work stress are GP and MA exposed to, the differences between GP and MA regarding their psychosocial working environment in terms of form of employment and gender, and associations between psychosocial stress and burnout | Mean (SDd)af | |||
Burnout | COPSOQc | 38.02 (19.81) | No | ||||||
Cognitive stress symptoms | COPSOQ | 26.36 (18.18) | No |