Protective and Risk Factors of Italian Healthcare Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: A Qualitative Study

Amalia De Leo, Eloisa Cianci, Paolo Mastore and Caterina Gozzoli
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Amalia De Leo: Department of Psychology, Università degli studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Eloisa Cianci: Department of Psychology, Cattolica University, 20123 Milan, Italy
Paolo Mastore: Department of Psychology, Cattolica University, 20123 Milan, Italy
Caterina Gozzoli: Department of Psychology, Cattolica University, 20123 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic put the Italian health system under great stress. The sudden reorganization of work practices and the emotional impact of the large number of the victims had many consequences on the well-being of the healthcare professionals (HCPs) involved in managing the crisis. In the available literature, most studies have focused on the risk aspects while only few studies also take into account protective factors. For this reason, it was decided to conduct, within psycho-sociological perspective, a qualitative study with the aim to explore in depth the protective and risk factors as experienced by HCPs who worked in the Italian healthcare system during the COVID-19 outbreak. A total of 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted with HCPs–9 nurses and 10 physicians (7M and 12F) with an average age of 43 (SD = 13.4)–selected using snowball sampling. Considering three different levels of analysis the results highlight the protective and risk factors: personal history level (intrinsic/ethical motivation and flexible role versus extrinsic motivation and static role), interpersonal level (perception of supportive relationships with colleagues, patients, and family versus bad relationships), and organizational level (good leadership and sustainable work purpose versus absence of support from management and undefined or confused tasks).

Keywords: risk factors; protective factors; COVID-19 pandemic; healthcare professionals; psychological malaise (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 (3)

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