Evaluation of sleep quality and anxiety in Italian pediatric healthcare workers during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate sleep quality and psychological effects on pediatric healthcare workers during the first wave of COVID-19 epidemic in Italy and to evaluate differences between primary and secondary care operators. Pediatric healthcare workers were involved in an online survey to assess sleep quality, stress and anxiety level, self-efficacy and social support in Italian pediatric healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic.

Results: We found that 67.4% of our sample suffered from sleep disturbance and 19.4% of subjects suffered from anxiety. Lower values of anxiety and social support were found in primary care staff compared to secondary care one. The associations between healthcare professional figures (being primary or secondary care operators) and mental health outcomes were not statistically significant. However, sex, age and having a SARS-CoV-2 infected relative/friend had an independent effect on mental health outcomes. It is crucial to provide social and psychological support to pediatric healthcare workers. A tailored psychological screening would be desirable for female healthcare workers and for those who have a SARS-CoV-2 infected relative/friend.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Female sex; Insomnia; Italy; PSQI; Pediatric staff; Self-efficacy; Social support; Stress; Zung index.

Fig. 1

A Correlations between the scores used for evaluating COVID-19 pandemic psychological effects on pediatric healthcare workers. PSQI Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, SASR Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Index, GSES General Self-Efficacy Scale, PSS Perceived Social Support. p value was from Pearson correlation. B Difference of Anxiety and Social Support between pediatric primary and secondary care staff. PSS Perceived Social Support; Values are expressed as median and range. p value was from Unpaired t test