Work-Related Stress among a Cohort of Italian Long-Term Care Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Observational Study

Andrea Conti, Sophia Russotto, Annalisa Opizzi, Matteo Ratti, Daniele Nicolini, Kris Vanhaecht and Massimiliano Panella
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Andrea Conti: Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Sophia Russotto: Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Annalisa Opizzi: Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Matteo Ratti: Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Daniele Nicolini: Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Kris Vanhaecht: KU Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Massimiliano Panella: Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-10

Abstract: Despite long-term care (LTC) workers having been identified as particularly subject to chronic stress, only a few studies evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress in this population. As far as the authors know, no studies have investigated the relationship between work-related stress and chronic stress in the LTC setting. This retrospective observational study aimed to assess the level of chronic stress in LTC workers, to identify some possible predictors and vulnerability factors, and to measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on work-related stress. The study was based on the information gathered from two different questionnaires administered before and one year after the beginning of the pandemic, to a cohort of Italian LTC workers. We found that chronic stress was associated with lower resilience to stress scores (57.42 vs. 60.66) and with higher work-related stress scores (30.48 vs. 20.83). Interestingly, the overall level of work-related stress did not differ between the two questionnaires (27.84 vs. 29.08). However, the main components of the questionnaires changed; fatigue and burnout symptoms became more relevant after the pandemic. Results of this study suggests deepening knowledge of the components of stress to develop and implement effective stress mitigation interventions.

Keywords: work-related stress; long-term care; healthcare workers mental health; COVID-19; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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