Mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Italy
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the most stressful events of recent times. Among the population, healthcare professionals who treat COVID-19 patients are most likely to develop psychological distress and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The present study thus aimed to investigate the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Italian healthcare workers. METHODS: The responses of 145 healthcare workers (72 medical doctors and 73 nurses) were included in the final dataset. Participants were asked to provide sociodemographic and clinical information, and to complete: (a) quality of life and health-related Visual Analogue Scales, (b) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Form Y1, (c) Beck Depression Inventory, and (d) PTSD Checklist for DSM-5. RESULTS: A comparison between healthcare professionals working in COVID-19 wards and other units revealed that the former reported higher levels of both depressive symptoms and PTSS. Moreover, the results of regression analyses showed that in healthcare professionals working with COVID-19 patients, gender and marital status, and gender and age significantly predicted depressive symptoms and PTSS, respectively. Particularly, being female and not in a relationship were found to be associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, whereas being female and older were found to be related to higher levels of PTSS. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings suggest that specific predisposing factors could identify healthcare workers who are at high risk of developing mental health symptoms when faced with COVID-19 patients.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
HCWs providing direct care to COVID-19 patients were at higher risk of developing PTSS than others.
“previous studies have suggested that HCWs providing direct care to COVID-19 patients were at higher risk of developing PTSS than others [10].”
From Associations between COVID-19 Work-Related Stressors and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Chinese Doctors and Nurses: Application of Stress-Coping Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [10]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Wang, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., Ho, C. S., & Ho, R. C. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17051729 · Cited by 9,923 · see citing works
Lai, J., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Cai, Z., Hu, J., Wei, N., Wu, J., Du, H., Chen, T., Li, R., et al. (2020) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976 · Cited by 8,015 · see citing works
Wang, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., McIntyre, R. S., Choo, F. N., Tran, B., Ho, R., Sharma, V. K., et al. (2020) · Brain, Behavior, and Immunity · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.028 · Cited by 2,571 · see citing works
Gender differences in depression: Critical review
Piccinelli, M., & Wilkinson, G. (2000) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.177.6.486 · Cited by 2,376 · see citing works
Shanafelt, T., Ripp, J., & Trockel, M. (2020) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2020.5893 · Cited by 1,956 · see citing works
Ho, C. S., Chee, C. Y., & Ho, R. C. (2020) · Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore · doi:10.47102/annals-acadmedsg.202043 · Cited by 1,699 · see citing works
Zhang, W.-R., Wang, K., Yin, L., Zhao, W.-F., Xue, Q., Peng, M., Min, B.-Q., Tian, Q., Leng, H.-X., Du, J.-L., et al. (2020) · Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics · doi:10.1159/000507639 · Cited by 1,690 · see citing works
Chew, N. W. S., Lee, G. K. H., Tan, B. Y. Q., Jing, M., Goh, Y., Ngiam, N. J. H., Yeo, L. L. L., Ahmad, A., Ahmed Khan, F., Napolean Shanmugam, G., et al. (2020) · Brain, Behavior, and Immunity · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.049 · Cited by 1,650 · see citing works
Liu, N., Zhang, F., Wei, C., Jia, Y., Shang, Z., Sun, L., Wu, L., Sun, Z., Zhou, Y., Wang, Y., et al. (2020) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112921 · Cited by 1,548 · see citing works
Ho, C. S. H., Chee, C. Y., & Ho, R. (2020) · PubMed · Cited by 1,354 · see citing works
Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers in Singapore
Tan, B. Y. Q., Chew, N. W. S., Lee, G. K. H., Jing, M., Goh, Y., Yeo, L. L. L., Zhang, K., Chin, H.-K., Ahmad, A., Khan, F. A., et al. (2020) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/m20-1083 · Cited by 1,279 · see citing works
Consequences of relationship status and quality for subjective well-being
Dush, C. M. K., & Amato, P. (2005) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/0265407505056438 · Cited by 649 · see citing works
Neto, M. L. R., Almeida, H. G., Esmeraldo, J. D., Nobre, C. B., Pinheiro, W. R., de Oliveira, C. R. T., Sousa, I. D. C., Lima, O. M. M. L., Lima, N. N. R., Moreira, M. M., et al. (2020) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112972 · Cited by 343 · see citing works
Romantic relationships and mental health
Braithwaite, S. R., & Holt‐Lunstad, J. (2016) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.04.001 · Cited by 317 · see citing works
Gender differences in PTSD symptoms: An exploration of peritraumatic mechanisms
Irish, L. A., Fischer, B., Fallon, W. F., Spoonster, E., Sledjeski, E. M., & Delahanty, D. L. (2010) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.09.004 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Tang, L., Pan, L., Yuan, L., & Zha, L. (2016) · International Journal of Nursing Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.ijnss.2016.12.002 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Cabarkapa, S., Nadjidai, S. E., Murgier, J., & Ng, C. H. (2020) · Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health · doi:10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100144 · Cited by 522 · see citing works
Tan, Y., Huang, C., Geng, Y., Cheung, S. P., & Zhang, S. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.671553 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Pallavicini, F., Orena, E., di Santo, S., Greci, L., Caragnano, C., Ranieri, P., Vuolato, C., Pepe, A., Veronese, G., Stefanini, S., et al. (2022) · Trials · doi:10.1186/s13063-022-06337-2 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Patel, H., Easterbrook, B., D'Alessandro-Lowe, A. M., Andrews, K., Ritchie, K., Hosseiny, F., Rodrigues, S., Malain, A., O’Connor, C., Schielke, H., et al. (2023) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008066.2023.2180706 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Ahn, M. H., Shin, Y. W., Suh, S., Kim, J. H., Kim, H. J., Lee, K.-U., & Chung, S. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/9nxth · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Linguistic predictors of psychological adjustment in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
Castiglioni, M., Caldiroli, C. L., Negri, A., Manzoni, G. M., & Procaccia, R. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20054482 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
She, R., Li, L., Yang, Q., Lin, J., Ye, X., Wu, S., Yang, Z., Guan, S., Zhang, J., Ling, R. H. Y., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19106201 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Di Tella, M., Romeo, A., Benfante, A., & Castelli, L.
- Affiliations
- Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- University of Turin (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Romeo, Annunziata
- Venue
- Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-07-25
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1583-1587
- ISSN
- 1356-1294 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2753
- OpenAlex
- W3045243883
- Cited by
- 404
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 121 · 2021: 131 · 2020: 11
- FWCI
- 34.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Institutional Research Information System University of Turin (University of Turin) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers, mental health, psychological distress, posttraumatic stress symptoms, depressive symptoms, anxiety, nurses, physicians, COVID-19 wards, gender differences, marital status, age, risk factors, Italy
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Adaptation, Psychological, Anxiety, Health Personnel, Humans, Italy, Mental Health, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
