New publication in Health: Functionality as a mode of coping in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic
A new publication resulting from a cross-faculty collaboration at Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna (Psychotherapy Science, Medicine, and Psychology) has been published in Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine.
The article, “Functionality as defence: A deep-structure hermeneutic study of institutional coping and professional identity during the COVID-19 pandemic”, explores how healthcare professionals working on COVID-19 wards experienced and managed psychosocial strain during the pandemic.
Drawing on deep-structure hermeneutic analysis of qualitative interviews, the study reveals a central paradox: Maintaining functionality enabled stability and agency, while simultaneously suppressing emotional expression and personal needs.
As a theoretically informed implication, the authors propose the concept of “spaces of non-functioning”—protected contexts that allow temporary relief from performance demands without destabilising professional identity.