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Psychological Support in a COVID-19 Hospital: A Community Case Study

Burnout is a well-documented entity in Care Workers population, affecting up to 50% of physicians, just as it is equally well established that managing an infectious disease outbreaks, such as confirmed in the COVID-19 pandemic, increases Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the psychological b...

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Autores principales: Rizzi, Damiano, Asperges, Erika, Rovati, Anna, Bigoni, Francesca, Pistillo, Elena, Corsico, Angelo, Mojoli, Francesco, Perlini, Stefano, Bruno, Raffaele
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8893142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35250697
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.820074
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author Rizzi, Damiano
Asperges, Erika
Rovati, Anna
Bigoni, Francesca
Pistillo, Elena
Corsico, Angelo
Mojoli, Francesco
Perlini, Stefano
Bruno, Raffaele
author_facet Rizzi, Damiano
Asperges, Erika
Rovati, Anna
Bigoni, Francesca
Pistillo, Elena
Corsico, Angelo
Mojoli, Francesco
Perlini, Stefano
Bruno, Raffaele
author_sort Rizzi, Damiano
collection PubMed
description Burnout is a well-documented entity in Care Workers population, affecting up to 50% of physicians, just as it is equally well established that managing an infectious disease outbreaks, such as confirmed in the COVID-19 pandemic, increases Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the psychological burden. Mental health support, in the form of formal or remote sessions, has been shown to be helpful to health care staff, despite the organizational difficulties in an emergency. During the first emergence of COVID-19 in Italy, the Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Health Care Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Policlinico San Matteo Foundation (Pavia, Lombardy), the Italian hospital that treated “patient 1,” has activated an agreement with the Soleterre Foundation, an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that manages health emergency projects, to provide psychological support. A task force of psychologists was created with the aim of designing and administering a Therapeutic Mental Health Assessment for COVID-19 Care Workers (TMHA COVID-19 CWs) to evaluate and support health care workers’ mental health. The assessment battery was developed to evaluate symptoms and behaviors associated with trauma and the corresponding maladaptive behaviors (the National Stressful Events Survey for PTSD-Short Scale “NSESSS” and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders “DSM-5” Self-Rated Level 1 transversal Symptom Measure—Adult). Once the TMHA COVID-19 CWs had been developed, the team of psychologists regularly visited healthcare staff in the ward to administer it. One hundred seven care workers (44 males, mean age 40 ± 15) across Intensive Care Units (ICUs), the emergency room and medical ward were administered the TMHA COVID-19 CWs. PTSD symptoms were reported as severe by 13% of the population. Depressive symptoms as severe for 7% and Anxiety symptoms as severe for 14%. Severe psychotic symptoms were experienced by 2% and severe suicidal thoughts by 1% of the population. The possibility of acting upon the results of the TMHA COVID-19 CWs allowed an early intervention through individual session beyond the cut-off level (moderate and severe symptoms) for PTSD in NSESSS. In fact, 280 individual support sessions were offered. Therefore, we considered our project a protective and support factor for healthcare workers’ mental well-being and we recommend implementing a mental health screening program in ward involved in COVID-19 patients’ care.
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spelling pubmed-88931422022-03-04 Psychological Support in a COVID-19 Hospital: A Community Case Study Rizzi, Damiano Asperges, Erika Rovati, Anna Bigoni, Francesca Pistillo, Elena Corsico, Angelo Mojoli, Francesco Perlini, Stefano Bruno, Raffaele Front Psychol Psychology Burnout is a well-documented entity in Care Workers population, affecting up to 50% of physicians, just as it is equally well established that managing an infectious disease outbreaks, such as confirmed in the COVID-19 pandemic, increases Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the psychological burden. Mental health support, in the form of formal or remote sessions, has been shown to be helpful to health care staff, despite the organizational difficulties in an emergency. During the first emergence of COVID-19 in Italy, the Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Health Care Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Policlinico San Matteo Foundation (Pavia, Lombardy), the Italian hospital that treated “patient 1,” has activated an agreement with the Soleterre Foundation, an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that manages health emergency projects, to provide psychological support. A task force of psychologists was created with the aim of designing and administering a Therapeutic Mental Health Assessment for COVID-19 Care Workers (TMHA COVID-19 CWs) to evaluate and support health care workers’ mental health. The assessment battery was developed to evaluate symptoms and behaviors associated with trauma and the corresponding maladaptive behaviors (the National Stressful Events Survey for PTSD-Short Scale “NSESSS” and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders “DSM-5” Self-Rated Level 1 transversal Symptom Measure—Adult). Once the TMHA COVID-19 CWs had been developed, the team of psychologists regularly visited healthcare staff in the ward to administer it. One hundred seven care workers (44 males, mean age 40 ± 15) across Intensive Care Units (ICUs), the emergency room and medical ward were administered the TMHA COVID-19 CWs. PTSD symptoms were reported as severe by 13% of the population. Depressive symptoms as severe for 7% and Anxiety symptoms as severe for 14%. Severe psychotic symptoms were experienced by 2% and severe suicidal thoughts by 1% of the population. The possibility of acting upon the results of the TMHA COVID-19 CWs allowed an early intervention through individual session beyond the cut-off level (moderate and severe symptoms) for PTSD in NSESSS. In fact, 280 individual support sessions were offered. Therefore, we considered our project a protective and support factor for healthcare workers’ mental well-being and we recommend implementing a mental health screening program in ward involved in COVID-19 patients’ care. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-02-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8893142/ /pubmed/35250697 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.820074 Text en Copyright © 2022 Rizzi, Asperges, Rovati, Bigoni, Pistillo, Corsico, Mojoli, Perlini and Bruno. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Rizzi, Damiano
Asperges, Erika
Rovati, Anna
Bigoni, Francesca
Pistillo, Elena
Corsico, Angelo
Mojoli, Francesco
Perlini, Stefano
Bruno, Raffaele
Psychological Support in a COVID-19 Hospital: A Community Case Study
title Psychological Support in a COVID-19 Hospital: A Community Case Study
title_full Psychological Support in a COVID-19 Hospital: A Community Case Study
title_fullStr Psychological Support in a COVID-19 Hospital: A Community Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Psychological Support in a COVID-19 Hospital: A Community Case Study
title_short Psychological Support in a COVID-19 Hospital: A Community Case Study
title_sort psychological support in a covid-19 hospital: a community case study
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8893142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35250697
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.820074
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