AUTHOR=Panzeri Anna , Rossi Ferrario Silvia , Cerutti Paola 

TITLE=Psychological Differences Among Healthcare Workers of a Rehabilitation Institute During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Two-Step Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.636129

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.636129

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Introduction:</bold> Healthcare workers facing the threatening COVID-19 can experience severe difficulties. Despite the need to evaluate both the psychological distress and positive protective resources, brief and reliable assessment tools are lacking.</p><p><bold>Aim:</bold> Study 1 aimed at developing a new assessment tool to measure psychological distress and esteem in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study 2 aimed to explore and compare the psychological reactions of healthcare workers of the COVID-19 and the non-COVID-19 wards.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> In Study 1, psychologists created 25 items based on their clinical experience. A preliminary qualitative evaluation selected the best 15 items for the new tool (CPI-HP) assessing the COVID-19 psychological impact with 2 scales: psychological distress and esteem. The CPI-HP was administered to 110 healthcare professionals to study its psychometric properties and the internal structure with exploratory graph analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Study 2 compared two groups of healthcare professionals of the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 departments.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> In Study 1, the CPI-HP showed satisfying psychometric properties, and the two-factor structure was confirmed with good fit indices. In Study 2, the two groups of healthcare workers showed comparable levels of psychological distress and resilient coping, but the COVID-19 group displayed significantly higher esteem and appreciation of the experience.</p><p><bold>Discussion:</bold> All operators showed high psychological distress during the emergency, but the COVID-19 group reported higher resources, probably due to stronger group cohesion and greater esteem, perceived meaning, and own work value.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Assessing the psychological distress and resources of healthcare professionals with specific tools is important. Psychological interventions should promote their psychological health.</p>