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. 2020 Dec;12(4):1054-1073.
doi: 10.1111/aphw.12239. Epub 2020 Oct 5.

Mental Health Conditions of Italian Healthcare Professionals during the COVID-19 Disease Outbreak

Maria Laura Bettinsoli  1 , Daniela Di Riso  2 , Jaime L Napier  1 , Lorenzo Moretti  3 , Pierfrancesco Bettinsoli  4 , Michelangelo Delmedico  3 , Andrea Piazzolla  3 , Biagio Moretti  3
Affiliations

Mental Health Conditions of Italian Healthcare Professionals during the COVID-19 Disease Outbreak

Maria Laura Bettinsoli et al. Appl Psychol Health Well Being. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy represents a unique threat in terms of psychological distress. This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the psychological health of Italian healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. We assessed participants' current psychological distress and coping strategies in the midst of the COVID outbreak (March-April 2020), and also asked them to retrospectively report how they remember feeling before the COVID-19 outbreak (December 2019). We examined associations between psychological distress and coping strategies with mental health and infection perceptions.

Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed online to healthcare professionals (N = 580) residing in different Italian regions from 26 March to 9 April 2020. The questionnaire measured changes in psychological states, coping strategies, and demographic variables testing variations in mental health and infection risk perception among Italian healthcare workers.

Results: Overall, approximately 33.5 per cent of healthcare professionals in our sample meet the threshold for psychiatric morbidity. Participants perceive their current psychological health to be worse during the COVID-19 emergency outbreak as compared to before the outbreak, and this was especially true among women.

Conclusions: Both immediate and long-term monitoring psychological assistance services for healthcare workers should be implemented by national institutions to re-establish the psychological well-being and enhance the self-confidence and resilience of hospital personnel.

Keywords: COVID-19; Italy; healthcare workers; mental health; risk perception.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

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