Vulnerabilities in Mental Health due to Covid-19 Pandemic: The Response of the Italian Physicians

Alessandra de Rose, Maria Felice Arezzo (), Mario Amore, Alessandro Cuomo, Sergio De Filippis, Silvestro La Pia, Marta Pasqualini, Alessandro Pirani, Riccardo Torta and Andrea Fagiolini
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Mario Amore: University of Genoa
Alessandro Cuomo: University of Siena
Sergio De Filippis: Villa Von Siebenthal
Silvestro La Pia: ASL Napoli 3 Sud
Marta Pasqualini: Sapienza University of Rome
Alessandro Pirani: Health County of Ferrara
Riccardo Torta: University of Turin
Andrea Fagiolini: University of Siena

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2023, vol. 168, issue 1, No 20, 539-556

Abstract: Abstract COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities in societies. In this paper we analyse the categories that have suffered more than others from the pandemic and the restrictions on social life in terms of mental health. We rely on the Serendipity project based on a survey administered between November 2021 and February 2022 to a sample of Italian physicians (n = 1281). The survey aimed to assess the perception of general practitioners, paediatricians, geriatricians, and mental health specialists (psychiatrists, neurologists, child neuropsychiatrists), about changes in the mental health of the population as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown. The strategies implemented by the doctors interviewed in terms of the intensity of the prevention, emergence, and treatment of mental health interventions, and their association with physicians’ characteristics and their opinions on patient vulnerability have been illustrated by means of a multiple correspondence analysis. An overall result of the survey is the consensus of doctors on the worsening of mental health in general population, especially among their patients, due to the pandemic and on the onset of new discomforts. The most exposed individuals to the risk of onset or worsening of mental disorders include women, young people, and patients with psychiatric comorbidity. The paper also illustrates the interventions put in place by the physicians and deemed necessary from a public heath response perspective, that include providing psychoeducation to the general population, improving telehealth services, and increasing financial and human resources for community-based care.

Keywords: Covid-19; Vulnerability; Mental health; Psychiatry; Public heath response; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s11205-023-03111-y

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