Linguistic Predictors of Psychological Adjustment in Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Marco Castiglioni, Cristina Liviana Caldiroli, Attà Negri, Gian Mauro Manzoni and Rossella Procaccia ()
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Marco Castiglioni: Department of Human Sciences “R. Massa”, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
Cristina Liviana Caldiroli: Department of Human Sciences “R. Massa”, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
Attà Negri: Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy
Gian Mauro Manzoni: Faculty of Psychology, eCampus University, 22060 Novedrate, Italy
Rossella Procaccia: Faculty of Psychology, eCampus University, 22060 Novedrate, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: COVID-19 broke out in China in December 2019 and rapidly became a worldwide pandemic that demanded an extraordinary response from healthcare workers (HCWs). Studies conducted during the pandemic observed severe depression and PTSD in HCWs. Identifying early predictors of mental health disorders in this population is key to informing effective treatment and prevention. The aim of this study was to investigate the power of language-based variables to predict PTSD and depression symptoms in HCWs. One hundred thirty-five HCWs (mean age = 46.34; SD = 10.96) were randomly assigned to one of two writing conditions: expressive writing (EW n = 73) or neutral writing (NW n = 62) and completed three writing sessions. PTSD and depression symptoms were assessed both pre- and post-writing. LIWC was used to analyze linguistic markers of four trauma-related variables (cognitive elaboration, emotional elaboration, perceived threat to life, and self-immersed processing). Changes in PTSD and depression were regressed onto the linguistic markers in hierarchical multiple regression models. The EW group displayed greater changes on the psychological measures and in terms of narrative categories deployed than the NW group. Changes in PTSD symptoms were predicted by cognitive elaboration, emotional elaboration, and perceived threat to life; changes in depression symptoms were predicted by self-immersed processing and cognitive elaboration. Linguistic markers can facilitate the early identification of vulnerability to mental disorders in HCWs involved in public health emergencies. We discuss the clinical implications of these findings.

Keywords: COVID-19; psychological adjustment; PTSD symptoms; depression symptoms; healthcare workers; cognitive processing; emotional processing; self-immersed processing; expressive writing; making sense (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 (2)

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