Occupational Stress and Mental Health among Anesthetists during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nicola Magnavita, Paolo Maurizio Soave, Walter Ricciardi and Massimo Antonelli
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Nicola Magnavita: Postgraduate School of Occupational Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy
Paolo Maurizio Soave: Postgraduate School of Occupational Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy
Walter Ricciardi: Department of Woman/Child & Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
Massimo Antonelli: Department of Emergency, Anesthesiology and Resuscitation Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: Anesthetist-intensivists who treat patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) are exposed to significant biological and psychosocial risks. Our study investigated the occupational and health conditions of anesthesiologists in a COVID-19 hub hospital in Latium, Italy. Ninety out of a total of 155 eligible workers (59%; male 48%) participated in the cross-sectional survey. Occupational stress was assessed with the Effort Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire, organizational justice with the Colquitt Scale, insomnia with the Sleep Condition Indicator (SCI), and mental health with the Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Scale (GADS). A considerable percentage of workers (71.1%) reported high work-related stress, with an imbalance between high effort and low rewards. The level of perceived organizational justice was modest. Physical activity and meditation—the behaviors most commonly adopted to increase resilience—decreased. Workers also reported insomnia (36.7%), anxiety (27.8%), and depression (51.1%). The effort made for work was significantly correlated with the presence of depressive symptoms (r = 0.396). Anesthetists need to be in good health in order to ensure optimal care for COVID-19 patients. Their state of health can be improved by providing an increase in individual resources with interventions for better work organization.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; emergency; healthcare workers; infectious disease; insomnia; logistic regression; organizational justice; SARS-CoV-2; sleep (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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