Psychological and Emotional Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on People Living with Chronic Disease: HIV and Cancer

Abstract

People living with chronic disease (PLWCD) are the frailest category, both for the risk of severe COVID-19 illness and for the impact on the care continuum. Aim of this study was to analyze coping strategies and resilience in people living with HIV (PLWH) compared to people living with oncological diseases (PLWOD) during COVID-19 pandemic. We administrated an anonymous questionnaire, which explored the emotional experience, the demographic factors linked to a COVID-19-related stress syndrome, the patient's perception about the adequacy of clinical undertaking from the hospital and the resilience. We analyzed 324 questionnaires. There were no significant differences in prevalence of psychological distress among the whole cohort; however, PLWOD were calmer, less troubled, and more serene than PLWH. Moreover, PLWH smoked more, ate more, and gained more weight than PLWOD. Most patients didn't feel lonely and continued to take pleasure from their activities. No differences in resilience were found between the groups. In the whole cohort lower levels of resilience were found in patients that were unemployed, with history of psychological disorders and in those who experienced more feelings of anger, anxiety and concern. In our study, patients seemed to preserve their well-being, and to activate adaptive coping during the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Chronic diseases; Psychological effects; Resilience.

Fig. 1

The radar plot of the means of each item in the Resilience Scale (RS). Each vertex represents each item of the RS