Investigating discrepancies in perceptions regarding the provision of hospital Rest and Relaxation spaces in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A qualitative study

Abstract

Objectives To investigate discrepancies in perceptions regarding the accessibility and availability of rest and relaxation (R&R) spaces between hospital doctors in Scotland and NHS Scotland regional health boards (HBs), with the intention of informing best practices for organisational policy on the provision of R&R spaces both now and in the future.

Design A qualitative study, through an inhabited institutionalism (II) lens, of semi-structured interviews of hospital doctors across the career continuum in Scotland and all NHS regional HBs in Scotland providing written information relating to R&R space provision.

Setting NHS Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Participants Hospital doctors (n=30) who had participated in a larger qualitative study and provided specific insights on R&R spaces. All NHS Scotland regional HBs (n=14).

Results Although HBs reported the provision of R&R spaces, numerous doctors reported R&R spaces had been removed, relocated or were inaccessible. Furthermore, limited awareness of their availability attributed to inadequate communication, compounded the issue. This divergence between institutional reporting and front-line experience can be interpreted through the lens of II, which posits that institutional polices are often interpreted and implemented differently.

Conclusions This study emphasises how crucial R&R spaces are to promoting doctors’ well-being especially during the time of high stress. HBs must not only guarantee the accessibility and physical availability of R&R spaces but also enhance their communication regarding the provision.

Rights

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-096154

Repository URI

https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/46ca06cb-7055-4e24-9065-41a499ca34e0