AUTHOR=Marton Giulia , Vergani Laura , Mazzocco Ketti , Garassino Marina Chiara , Pravettoni Gabriella 

TITLE=2020s Heroes Are Not Fearless: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Wellbeing and Emotions of Italian Health Care Workers During Italy Phase 1

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.588762

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2020.588762

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>The study aimed to investigate the mental health and emotional reaction of physicians working during phase 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A total of 458 Italian Health Care Workers (HCWs) working during phases 1 of the COVID-19 outbreak were voluntarily enlisted in the study and recruited with the snowball technique through an online survey. We examined our variables with the General Health Questionnaire – 12 and with Visual Analog Scales.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The sample has a high level of psychological distress 21.26 (SD = 4.46), the emotional reaction was characterized by high level of fear for family members and cohabitants (<italic>M</italic> = 77.67, SD = 27.16) and patients (<italic>M</italic> = 67.16, SD = 27.71). Perceived control, fear for patients, and for family members and cohabitants, feeling alone and anger all contribute to a decreased mental health in Italian physicians (<italic>R</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.285, p &lt; 0.001).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Italian HCWs’ mental health and emotional reaction have to be considered to prevent high risk of burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It becomes pivotal in the next months to implement a tailored psychological intervention to take care of HCWs and to prevent costly consequences for them, patients, and the healthcare system.</p></sec>