Mental Health Symptoms among General Practitioners Facing the Acute Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Detecting Different Reaction Groups

Claudia Carmassi, Valerio Dell’Oste, Filippo Maria Barberi, Carlo Antonio Bertelloni, Virginia Pedrinelli and Liliana Dell’Osso
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Claudia Carmassi: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Valerio Dell’Oste: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Filippo Maria Barberi: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Carlo Antonio Bertelloni: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Virginia Pedrinelli: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Liliana Dell’Osso: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: During the 2020 first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, general practitioners (GPs) represented the first line of primary care and were highly exposed to the pandemic risks, with a consequent risk of developing a wide range of mental health symptoms. However, scant data are still available on factors associated with a worse outcome. The aim of the present study was to investigate mental health symptoms in 139 GPs in the aftermath of the first COVID-19 national lockdown in Italy, detecting groups of subjects with different depressive, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptom severity. The impact of the mental health symptoms on quality of life and individual functioning were also evaluated. A cluster analysis identified three groups with mild (44.6%), moderate (35.3%), and severe psychopathological burden (20.1%). Higher symptom severity was related to younger age, fewer years in service as GPs, working in a high incidence area for the pandemic, having a relative at risk of medical complications due to COVID-19, besides more severe global functioning impairment, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. The present findings showed that GPs, forced to perform their professional activity in extremely stressful conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, were at high risk of developing mental health problems and a worse quality of life.

Keywords: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); depression; anxiety; mental health burden; burnout; primary care; COVID-19 pandemic; global functioning (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 (1)

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