Depressive Symptoms of Public Health Medical Residents during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a Nation-Wide Survey: The PHRASI Study

Fabrizio Cedrone, Nausicaa Berselli, Lorenzo Stacchini, Valentina De Nicolò, Marta Caminiti, Angela Ancona, Giuseppa Minutolo, Clara Mazza, Claudia Cosma, Veronica Gallinoro, Alessandro Catalini (), Vincenza Gianfredi and on behalf of the Working Group on “Public Mental Health” 2021/2022 of the Medical Residents’ Assembly of the Italian Society of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine
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Fabrizio Cedrone: Hospital Management, Local Health Authority of Pescara, 65100 Pescara, Italy
Nausicaa Berselli: Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 287, 41125 Modena, Italy
Lorenzo Stacchini: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Valentina De Nicolò: Department of Public Health and Infectious Disease, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Marta Caminiti: Department of Medicine and Surgery—Sector of Public Health, University of Perugia, 06100 Perugia, Italy
Angela Ancona: School of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Giuseppa Minutolo: Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Clara Mazza: Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Claudia Cosma: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Veronica Gallinoro: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Alessandro Catalini: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60100 Ancona, Italy
Vincenza Gianfredi: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Via Pascal, 36, 20133 Milan, Italy
on behalf of the Working Group on “Public Mental Health” 2021/2022 of the Medical Residents’ Assembly of the Italian Society of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine: Membership of the Working Group is provided in the Acknowledgements

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: Depression is a widespread condition, which increased during the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers as well. The large workload of the pandemic response also affected Public Health Residents (PHRs) who played an important role in infection prevention and control activities. This work aims to assess depression in Italian PHRs, based on data collected through the PHRASI (Public Health Residents’ Anonymous Survey in Italy) study. In 2022, 379 PHRs completed the self-administered questionnaire containing Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to evaluate clinically relevant depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 10). Multivariate logistic regression shows that the intention (aOR = 3.925, 95% CI = (2.067–7.452)) and the uncertainty (aOR = 4.949, 95% CI = (1.872–13.086)) of repeating the test to enter another postgraduate school/general practitioner course and the simultaneous attendance of two traineeships (aOR = 1.832, 95% CI = (1.010–3.324)) are positively related with depressive symptoms. Conversely, the willingness to work in the current traineeship place (aOR = 0.456, 95% CI = (0.283–0.734)) emerged as a protective factor. Similar results were obtained considering mild-to-severe (PHQ-9 ≥ 5) depressive symptoms and/or stratifying by sex. The findings, suggesting the protective role of job satisfaction toward depression, might entail future interventions to improve the learning experience and promote work-life balance.

Keywords: mental health; depression; Patient Health Questionnaire; job satisfaction; schools; public health; healthcare personnel; cross-sectional design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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