COVID-19 and post-traumatic stress disorder among nurses: a descriptive cross-sectional study in a COVID hospital
Main Article Content
Keywords
Key Words: COVID-19, PTSD, nurses, psychological distress Parole Chiave: COVID-19, PTSD, infermieri, distress psicologico
Abstract
Background: In March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. Healthcare professionals directly involved in diagnosing, treating and caring for patients with COVID-19 are at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Objective: This study investigated the prevalence of PTSD among nurses working in a COVID hospital and evaluated associated factors. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Crema Hospital and the Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R) was administered. Data collection took place from July to September 2020, during which 275 questionnaires were distributed. Results: Of the total sample, 39.88% received a provisional PTSD diagnosis deserving of further analysis. Nurses stated that they were predominantly overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts (M = 1.55). Working in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic (OR=2.40; p=0.02), irregular work shifts (OR=5.41; p=0.01) and coming from a mental health ward (OR=3.80; p=0.02) increased the risk of receiving a provisional PTSD diagnosis. Our findings showed significantly higher IES-R scores among women than among men (p = 0.01). The activities that caused the most distress were related to technical skills required for managing ventilation and intubation devices. Conclusions: The results of the study highlighted the presence of considerable psychological distress in the sample. There is an urgent need to monitor the short- and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and implement early intervention measures.
References
2. Jorge RE. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Contin Lifelong Learn Neurol. 2015 Jun;21:789–805.
3. Smith JR, Workneh A, Yaya S. Barriers and Facilitators to Help‐Seeking for Individuals With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review. J Trauma Stress. 2020 Apr;33(2):137–150.
4. Allan SM, Bealey R, Birch J, et al. The prevalence of common and stress-related mental health disorders in healthcare workers based in pandemic-affected hospitals: a rapid systematic review and meta-analysis (Internet). Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology; 2020 May (cited 2021 Jan 27). Available from: http://medrxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2020.05.04.20089862
5. Di Tella M, Romeo A, Benfante A, Castelli L. Mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID ‐19 pandemic in Italy. J Eval Clin Pract. 2020 Dec;26(6):1583–1587.
6. Serrano-Ripoll MJ, Meneses-Echavez JF, Ricci-Cabello I, et al. Impact of viral epidemic outbreaks on mental health of healthcare workers: a rapid systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2020 Dec;277:347–357.
7. d’Ettorre G, Ceccarelli G, Santinelli L, et al. Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Healthcare Workers Dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jan 12;18(2):601.
8. Jung H, Jung SY, Lee MH, Kim MS. Assessing the Presence of Post-Traumatic Stress and Turnover Intention Among Nurses Post–Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Outbreak: The Importance of Supervisor Support. Workplace Health Saf. 2020 Jul;68(7):337–345.
9. Li Y, Scherer N, Felix L, Kuper H. Prevalence of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pietschnig J, editor. PLOS ONE. 2021 Mar 10;16(3):e0246454.
10. Conti C, Fontanesi L, Lanzara R, Rosa I, Porcelli P. Fragile heroes. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health-care workers in Italy. Kotozaki Y, editor. PLOS ONE. 2020 Nov 18;15(11):e0242538.
11. Carmassi C, Foghi C, Dell’Oste V, et al. PTSD symptoms in healthcare workers facing the three coronavirus outbreaks: What can we expect after the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatry Res. 2020 Oct;292:113312.
12. Bassi M, Negri L, Delle Fave A, Accardi R. The relationship between post-traumatic stress and positive mental health symptoms among health workers during COVID-19 pandemic in Lombardy, Italy. J Affect Disord. 2021 Feb;280:1–6.
13. PIANO DI RIORDINO DELLA RETE OSPEDALIERA: ATTUAZIONE DELL’ART. 2 DEL D.L. 34/2020. XI / 3264 Jun 16, 2020.
14. Rossi R, Socci V, Pacitti F, et al. Mental health outcomes among front and second line health workers associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy (Internet). Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology; 2020 Apr (cited 2021 Jan 27). Available from: http://medrxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2020.04.16.20067801
15. Wilson JP, Keane TM, editors. Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD / edited by John P. Wilson, Terence M. Keane. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford Press; 2004. 668 p.
16. Beck JG, Grant DM, Read JP, et al. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised: Psychometric properties in a sample of motor vehicle accident survivors. J Anxiety Disord. 2008 Jan;22(2):187–198.
17. Giannantonio M. Psicotraumatologia e psicologia dell’emergenza. Salerno: Ecomind; 2005.
18. Converso D, Viotti S. (Post-traumatic stress reaction in a sample of bank employees victims of robbery in the workplace: the role of pre-trauma and peri-trauma factors). Med Lav. 2014 Jul 24;105(4):243–254.
19. Craparo G, Faraci P, Rotondo G, Gori A. The Impact of Event Scale – Revised: psychometric properties of the Italian version in a sample of flood victims. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2013 Sep;1427.
20. Pietrantonio F, De Gennaro L, Di Paolo MC, Solano L. The Impact of Event Scale. J Psychosom Res. 2003 Oct;55(4):389–393.
21. Issue 19 | Posttraumatic Stress Disorder | Psychological Trauma (Internet). Scribd. (cited 2021 Apr 21). Available from: https://www.scribd.com/document/453233774/issue-19
22. Schuster M, Dwyer PA. Post‐traumatic stress disorder in nurses: An integrative review. J Clin Nurs. 2020 Aug;29(15–16):2769–2787.
23. Zhang W, Wang K, Yin L, et al. Mental Health and Psychosocial Problems of Medical Health Workers during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China. Psychother Psychosom. 2020;89(4):242–250.
24. Arcadi P, Simonetti V, Ambrosca R, et al. Nursing during the COVID‐19 outbreak: A phenomenological study. J Nurs Manag. 2021 Jan 31;jonm.13249.
25. Barello S, Falcó-Pegueroles A, Rosa D, Tolotti A, Graffigna G, Bonetti L. The psychosocial impact of flu influenza pandemics on healthcare workers and lessons learnt for the COVID-19 emergency: a rapid review. Int J Public Health. 2020 Sep;65(7):1205–1216.
26. González-Sanguino C, Ausín B, Castellanos MÁ, et al. Mental health consequences during the initial stage of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Spain. Brain Behav Immun. 2020 Jul;87:172–176.
27. Song X, Fu W, Liu X, et al. Mental health status of medical staff in emergency departments during the Coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic in China. Brain Behav Immun. 2020 Aug;88:60–65.
28. Chew NWS, Ngiam JN, Tan BY-Q, et al. Asian-Pacific perspective on the psychological well-being of healthcare workers during the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. BJPsych Open. 2020 Nov;6(6):e116.
29. Mazza C, Ricci E, Biondi S, et al. A Nationwide Survey of Psychological Distress among Italian People during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 May 2;17(9):3165.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
How to Cite
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Roberto Sfogliarini, Healthcare Medical Direction, Crema Hospital, Italy
Medical Director
How to Cite
