The inclusion criteria for newspaper articles included in our analysis

APPENDIX 1 – Search strategies and article selection.

Search strategy for rapid analysis of newspaper articles (LexisNexis): ("healthcare

professionals"[All Fields] OR "healthcare worker"[All Fields] OR "doctor"[All Fields] OR

"nurse"[All Fields]) AND (("coronavirus"[MeSH Terms] OR "coronavirus"[All Fields]) OR

corona[All Fields] OR ("COVID-19"[All Fields] OR "severe acute respiratory syndrome

coronavirus 2"[Supplementary Concept] OR "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus

2"[All Fields] OR "2019-nCoV"[All Fields] OR "SARS-CoV-2"[All Fields] OR "2019nCoV"[All

Fields] AND ("coronavirus"[MeSH Terms] OR "coronavirus"[All Fields])) AND

2019/12[PDAT] : 2030[PDAT])))

The inclusion criteria for newspaper articles included in our analysis were:

1) Focus on the perspectives or experiences of healthcare workers (self-reported or

narrated in third person);

2) Focus on the response strategies aimed at COVID-19;

3) Published from 1 December 2019 to 17 March 2020 (for the purpose of this paper);

and

4) Published in English.

Search strategy for UK policy review: COVID-19 OR coronavirus OR corona.

Inclusion criteria:

1) Published from 1 December 2019 to 20 April 2020;

2) Aimed at healthcare delivery (i.e. not focusing on prevention, social isolation, etc.);

3) Related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Search strategy for social media analysis (Meltwater):

Search terms

((bio:"healthcare professional" OR bio:"healthcare worker" OR bio:"doctor" OR bio:"NHS"

OR bio:"nurse" OR bio:"physio*" OR bio:"Paramedic" OR bio:"Ambulance work*" OR

bio:"Ambulance driver*") AND ("coronavirus" OR "#coronavirus" OR “corona” OR "COVID-

19" OR "COVID 19" OR "COVID19" OR "#COVID19" OR "COVID_19" OR "COVID" OR

"severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" OR "severe acute respiratory syndrome

coronavirus 2" OR "2019-nCoV" OR "SARS-CoV-2" OR "2019nCoV" OR "physio*" OR

"PPE") OR

("i am" OR "as a" OR "source: I" OR "I'm a") near/5 ("doctor" OR "nurse" OR "doctors" OR

"nurses" OR "Paramedic" OR "Ambulance worker" OR "Ambulance driver") AND

("coronavirus" OR "#coronavirus" OR “corona” OR "COVID-19" OR "COVID 19" OR

"COVID19" OR "#COVID19" OR "COVID_19" OR "severe acute respiratory syndrome

coronavirus 2" OR "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" OR "2019-nCoV" OR

"SARS-CoV-2" OR "2019nCoV" OR "physio*" OR "PPE") NOT ("I am not" OR "I'm not"))

NOT ("RT" OR "QT")

Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

To assess for predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, imported news articles and news

blogs use the URL’s in Excel to access the full article. For social media data, the Hit

Sentence was used to assess relevance and if they meet inclusion and exclusion criteria.

For YouTube Media the URL was used to generate a transcription of the video and was

screened for inclusion and exclusion data.

Inclusion Criteria

BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance

Supplemental material

placed on this supplemental material which has been supplied by the author(s)

BMJ Open

doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040503:e040503. 10 2020;BMJ Open, et al. Vindrola-Padros C

1. Content refers specifically to experience of Healthcare Workers (HCW) of healthcare

delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic

Note: We are privileging first-hand accounts of experience but also included second-hand

accounts if they refered directly to HCW experience of healthcare delivery.

Information source:

• HCW: first-had account

• HCW: second-hand account

o Influencer (e.g. social media figure)

o Public figure (e.g. celebrity, politician, academic)

o Media story reference (news reporting)

o Social media post reference

o Public health or health organisation messaging

o Government messaging

• Other

Exclusion Criteria

1. Post is by a non-HCW without specific knowledge of HCW experience;

2. Content is generally about health response and not HCW;

3. Content is generally about COVID-19 and not HCW;

4. Reference to HCW not associated with the COVID-19 pandemic;

5. Full text is unavailable (News article only);

6. Article is concerned with solely the financial market and will not be considered relevant

to public sentiment;

7. News article duplicates from identical location, source and article information the

duplicates are excluded. The first article sourced remained for inclusion in analysis.

BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance

Supplemental material

placed on this supplemental material which has been supplied by the author(s)

BMJ Open

doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040503:e040503. 10 2020;BMJ Open, et al. Vindrola-Padros C

Flow diagram of social media assessment:

BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance

Supplemental material

placed on this supplemental material which has been supplied by the author(s)

BMJ Open

doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040503:e040503. 10 2020;BMJ Open, et al. Vindrola-Padros C

Key aspects of UK newspaper reporting of the perceptions and experiences of

healthcare workers (HCWs) with COVID-19:

Coverage in UK newspapers

Overall

Jan

Feb

March

N articles (row)

N=50

100 %

N=1

N=7

14%

N=43

86%

Key issues reported

Insufficient advice/info/training

46%

57.14%

44.19%

Adaption

46%

14.29%

51.16%

Concerns over ability to cope

38%

28.57%

39.53%

Personal protective equipment

36%

100%

39.53%

Personal fears / family

34%

14.29%

39.53%

Diagnostic resources

34%

100%

37.21%

Contact tracing

16%

42.86%

11.63%

Hospital infrastructure

28%

14.29%

30.23%

Re-prioritisation/ Knock on

effects

16%

14.29%

16.28%

BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance

Supplemental material

placed on this supplemental material which has been supplied by the author(s)

BMJ Open

doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040503:e040503. 10 2020;BMJ Open, et al. Vindrola-Padros C