Mental Health Issues as a Consequence of the Pandemic: Group Psycho-Educational Intervention to Support Patients Recovered from COVID-19 Infection

Denise Vagnini, Nicolò Lamperti, Sara Molgora (), Francesca Barile, Federica Facchin, Umberto Mazza and Emanuela Saita
Additional contact information
Denise Vagnini: Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy
Nicolò Lamperti: Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, 20162 Milan, Italy
Sara Molgora: Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy
Francesca Barile: Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, 20162 Milan, Italy
Federica Facchin: Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy
Umberto Mazza: Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, 20162 Milan, Italy
Emanuela Saita: Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Common psycho-physical symptoms have emerged in patients who were previously recovered for COVID-19 infection, including traumatic experience and enduring emotional disturbances. A group psycho-educational intervention of seven weekly sessions and a follow-up after three months was proposed to all Italian-speaking patients formally discharged from a public hospital in northern Italy and physically recovered from infection. Eighteen patients were recruited and divided into four age-homogenous groups, each led by two facilitators (psychologists and psychotherapists). The group sessions followed a structured format with thematic modules, including main topics, tasks, and homework assignments. Data were collected through recordings and verbatim transcripts. The objectives of the study were twofold: (1) to analyze the emerging themes and gain insight into the significant aspects of the participants’ lived experience of COVID-19, and (2) to examine changes in how participants approached these themes throughout the intervention process. Semantic-pragmatic text analyses, specifically thematic analysis of elementary context and correspondence analysis, were conducted using T-LAB software. Linguistic analysis revealed a congruence between the intervention’s objectives and the participants’ experiences. The study highlighted an evolution in the narratives, as participants transitioned from a passive and concrete perspective on the disease to a more comprehensive cognitive and emotional elaboration of their personal illness stories. These findings hold potential relevance for healthcare services and professionals working in this field.

Keywords: COVID-19; group intervention; psycho-education; cognitive-behavioral approach; mental health; hospitalized patients (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/12/6105/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/12/6105/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:12:p:6105-:d:1168995

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().