COVID-19 pandemic-related anxiety, distress and burnout: prevalence and associated factors in healthcare workers of North-West Italy

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic caused drastic changes in healthcare and severe social restrictions. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are on the front line against the virus and have been highly exposed to pandemic-related stressors, but there are limited data on their psychological involvement for a large sample in Italy. Aims To investigate the prevalence of anxiety, distress and burnout in HCWs of North-West Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to detect potential psychosocial factors associated with their emotional response. Method This cross-sectional, survey-based study enrolled 797 HCWs. Participants completed the Impact of Event Scale – Revised, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – Form Y and the Maslach Burnout Inventory; demographic, family and work characteristics were also collected. Global psychological outcome, differences among professions and independent factors associated with worst psychological outcome were assessed. Results Almost a third of the sample had severe state anxiety and distress, high emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, and low personal accomplishment. Distress was higher in women and nurses, whereas depersonalisation was higher in men. Family division, increased workload, job changes and frequent contact with COVID-19 were associated with worst psychological outcome. Trait anxiety was associated with significantly higher risk for developing state anxiety, distress and burnout. Conclusions An elevated psychological burden related to the COVID-19 pandemic was observed in HCWs of North-West Italy. The identification of family and work characteristics and a psychological pre-existing condition as factors associated with worst psychological outcome may help provide a tailored, preventive, organisational and psychological approach in counteracting the psychological effects of future pandemics.

Burnout in Intensive Care Unit Workers during the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Single Center Cross-Sectional Italian Study

“…Participants were considered to have experienced burnout when the level of emotional exhaustion or depersonalization exceeded the cut-off, regardless of the presence or absence of reduced personal accomplishment, given its lack of evidence as a predictor of clinically diagnosed burnout [ 15 , 24 ]. Consistent with the Italian literature, we considered the level of burnout to be high if emotional exhaustion scores were ≥24, personal accomplishment scores were ≤29, and depersonalization scores were ≥9; moderate if emotional exhaustion scores were 15–23, personal accomplishment scores were 30–36, and depersonalization scores were 4–8; and low if emotional exhaustion scores were ≤14, personal accomplishment scores were ≥37, and depersonalization scores were ≤3 [ 25 , 26 ].…”

Impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on healthcare workers: systematic comparison between nurses and medical doctors

“…A more detailed overview of all investigated outcome measures can be found in Table 1 [ 3 , 8 ▪ , 10 , 11 ▪ , 12 ▪ , 13 , 14 ▪ , 15 – 20 , 21 ▪ , 22 ▪ , 23 , 24 , 25 ▪ , 26 , 27 , 28 ▪ , 29 ▪ , 30 , 31 – 34 ].…”

Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Burnout in Health Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparing Mental Health Professionals and Other Healthcare Workers

“…Details of the different specializations of participating physicians are provided in Table 1. Psychological data regarding the entire population of physicians and nurses have previously been published [30]. Recruitment was undertaken in an especially demanding period of the COVID-19 health crisis in Italy: from March 10 to 3 May 2020, a nationwide quarantine was imposed, and the total numbers of COVID-19-confirmed cases exceeded 26,000 in Piedmont and 207,000 in Italy [33].…”

“…In particular, they seem to experience depression, anxiety, traumatic stress, avoidance, and burnout [28]. Depression and anxiety symptoms reported by HCWs range from moderate to severe; moreover, the literature reveals that anxiety is positively correlated with the total amount of stress and workload [29,30]. Isolation from relatives, working in high-risk wards, fear, and feeling guilt over contributing to contagion have all been reported as major causes of trauma [31].…”