The Sustained Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Care Workers One Year after the Outbreak—A Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey in a Tertiary Hospital of North-East Italy

Antonio Lasalvia, Luca Bodini, Francesco Amaddeo, Stefano Porru, Angela Carta, Ranieri Poli and Chiara Bonetto
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Antonio Lasalvia: UOC Psichiatria, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata (AOUI) di Verona, Policlinico ‘G.B. Rossi’, P.le Scuro 10, 37134 Verona, Italy
Luca Bodini: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37129 Verona, Italy
Francesco Amaddeo: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37129 Verona, Italy
Stefano Porru: Section of Occupational Medicine, Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, University of Verona and Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata (AOUI) di Verona, Policlinico ‘G.B. Rossi’, P.le Scuro 10, 37134 Verona, Italy
Angela Carta: Section of Occupational Medicine, Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, University of Verona and Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata (AOUI) di Verona, Policlinico ‘G.B. Rossi’, P.le Scuro 10, 37134 Verona, Italy
Ranieri Poli: Hospital Health Directorate, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata (AOUI) di Verona, 37122 Verona, Italy
Chiara Bonetto: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37129 Verona, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: This study aimed to evaluate the mental health outcomes of health care workers (HCWs) of the Verona academic hospital trust (Italy) one year after the outbreak of COVID-19 and to identify predicted risk factors. A web-based survey was conducted from mid-April to mid-May 2021 on hospital workers one year after the first evaluation performed during the lock-down phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Post-traumatic stress, general anxiety, depression, and burnout were assessed by using, respectively, the impact of event scale (IES-R), the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Maslach burnout inventory-general survey (MBI-GS). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with each of the four mental health outcomes one year after the COVID-19 outbreak. A total of 1033 HCWs participated. The percentage of HCWs scoring above the cut-off increased from 2020 to 2021 in all of the outcome domains (anxiety, 50.1% vs. 55.7, p < 0.05; depression, 26.6% vs. 40.6%, p < 0.001; burnout, 28.6% vs. 40.6%, p < 0.001; chi-square test), with the exception of post-traumatic distress. There was also an increase when stratifying by occupation and workplace, with a greater increase for depression and burnout. Multivariate analysis revealed that, one year after the COVID-19 outbreak, nurses were at the greatest risk of anxiety and depression, whereas residents were at the greatest risk of burnout (in terms of low professional efficacy). Working in intensive care units was associated with an increased risk of developing severe emotional exhaustion and a cynical attitude towards work.

Keywords: COVID-19; post-traumatic stress; depression; anxiety; burnout; health care workers; occupational health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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