Hopelessness and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Any Role for Mediating Variables?

Aguglia, Andrea; Amerio, Andrea; Costanza, Alessandra; Parodi, Nicolò; Copello, F; Serafini, Gianluca; Amore, Mario

doi:10.3390/ijerph18126579

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…This predictive relationship is partially mediated by mindfulness and humor. Aguglia et al’s ( 2021 ) study evaluated the impact the pandemic has had on the mental well-being of health care workers, focusing on the association among hopelessness, death anxiety, and post-traumatic symptomatology. The findings showed death anxiety to be a potential mediator of the significant association between hopelessness and post-traumatic symptomatology.…”

Section: Hopelessnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Among Spirituality, Self-Efficacy, COVID-19 Anxiety, and Hopelessness During the COVID-19 Process in Turkey: A Path Analysis

Kasapoğlu

2022

J Relig Health

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This study explores the relationship among spirituality, self-efficacy, COVID-19 anxiety, and hopelessness. The participants are comprised of 418 individuals (282 females and 136 males) in Turkey whose ages range between 18 and 61 years old. The participants completed the following surveys: The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Spiritual Orientation Inventory. The relationships among the variables have been examined using path analysis. According to the results, spirituality, self-efficacy, and COVID-19 anxiety have direct effects on hopelessness. The analysis also shows self-efficacy to mediate the relationship between spirituality and hopelessness. The proposed model has good fit indices. The findings are discussed in the context of the literature on COVID-19, spirituality, self-efficacy, and hopelessness, with practical implications for mental health professionals being provided.

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Section: Hopelessnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Among Spirituality, Self-Efficacy, COVID-19 Anxiety, and Hopelessness During the COVID-19 Process in Turkey: A Path Analysis

Kasapoğlu

2022

J Relig Health

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“…Due to variation in potentiating risk factors of psychological distress, there are differences in the prevalence of distress in particular subgroups [ 8 - 10 ]. For example, HCWs showed a higher prevalence of PTSD attributed primarily to the nature of their job [ 8 - 10 ]. Also, as expected, patients affected with COVID-19 are more susceptible to PTSD [ 5 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the WHO declared the rapid spread of COVID-19 as a pandemic, there has been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of mental and psychological problems in the general population worldwide [7]. Due to variation in potentiating risk factors of psychological distress, there are differences in the prevalence of distress in particular subgroups [8][9][10]. For example, HCWs showed a higher prevalence of PTSD attributed primarily to the nature of their job [8][9][10].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Among Healthcare Workers Diagnosed With COVID-19 in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2020 to 2021

Alshehri¹,

Al-Ghamdi²

2021

Cureus

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Background Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a global problem. According to its definition, it is a disorder that occurs with some people who have undergone or witnessed a shocking, terrifying, or hazardous event, and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with its consequent threats and fear meets the definition of a traumatic event. The main aim of this study is to determine PTSD in healthcare workers (HCWs) who survived COVID-19 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Subjects and methods Through an analytical cross-sectional study, HCWs working in Jeddah city with a minimum of seven days since their first positive COVID-19 result were included in this study. They were screened using the 'PTSD checklist for The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)' (PCL-5), which is a 20-item self-report measure that assesses the presence and severity of PTSD symptoms. Results Out of all respondents (n=404), there was slight dominance of females (54.0%) over males (46.0%), and an almost equal distribution of Saudis (51.2%) and non-Saudis (48.8%); their mean age accounted for 36.9±8.7 years. PTSD was detected in 14.9%; the prevalence was significantly higher in those who had chronic diseases (23.7%), especially diabetics (30.8%) and obesity (41.2%), HCWs whose job necessitates exposure to positive cases (18.8%), and those who were isolated in hospitals while being ill. All the above values were statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion and recommendations The prevalence of PTSD in the HCWs who survived COVID-19 came within the range of that in HCWs who were dealing with cases of COVID-19 without being affected. Efforts should be made to alleviate stress in HCWs during their work in pandemics.

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“…The severity of his major depressive episode with melancholic features and complete imperviousness to environmental positive inputs, suggested an important biological contribution to its origin. Furthermore, his psychiatric condition might not have an important psychosocial origin, as the patient experienced no stressors of socioeconomic or psychological nature and did not belong to more vulnerable populations [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], as those who were widely described in literature [ 15 , 16 ]. We considered the following differential diagnoses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this was not an omission but a result of our assessment of the patient (see item (iv) in the differential diagnosis paragraph). While the important role of fear of death still remains relatively less analyzed and empathized among patients in analogy to what also occurs in other settings where the integrity of the person is threatened, such as emergency departments [ 54 , 55 ], more studies have investigated this concept in healthcare workers, typically in relation with hopelessness and PTSD [ 14 , 56 ]. We postulate that in the patient described, psychosocial stressors played a less relevant role than the chronological concomitance of symptomatology with HCQ intake as these factors appear to be extremely favorable from a psychological, social, and prognostic point of view.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine Use and Suicide Risk: Hypotheses for Confluent Etiopathogenetic Mechanisms?

Costanza

Placenti

Amerio

et al. 2021

Behavioral Sciences

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Chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are classical anti-malarial and anti-inflammatory treatments, which were used as first-line therapy at the beginning of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Besides the emerging data on their lack of efficacy against COVID-19 infection, such treatments have been associated with some severe health concerns, including those of neuropsychiatric nature, such as a possible increase in suicide risk. Here we report a case of a patient with no history of psychiatric illnesses, who abruptly developed depression with melancholic features, severe suicidal ideation (SI), and attempted suicide (SA) shortly after receiving HCQ for his COVID-19 infection. The case was followed by a mini-review of the heterogeneous scientific literature on the hypothetical association between neuropsychiatric symptoms, with a focus on SI and suicidal behavior (SB, including SA and death by suicide), when CQ and HCQ are used in COVID-19, rheumatologic diseases, and malaria settings. Considering the anti-inflammatory properties of CQ and HCQ and the implications for neuroinflammation in suicide pathogenesis, the possible increase in suicide risk caused by these medications appears paradoxical and suggests that other underlying pathological trajectories might account for this eventuality. In this regard, some of these latter mechanistic postulates were proposed. Certainly the role and contribution of psycho-social factors that a COVID-19 patient had to face can neither be minimized nor excluded in the attempt to understand his suffering until the development of SI/SB. However, while this case report represents a rare scenario in clinical practice and no consensus exists in the literature on this topic, a psychiatric screening for suicide risk in patients using of CQ and HCQ could be carefully considered.

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Hopelessness and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Any Role for Mediating Variables?

Cited by 19 publications

References 57 publications

The Relationship Among Spirituality, Self-Efficacy, COVID-19 Anxiety, and Hopelessness During the COVID-19 Process in Turkey: A Path Analysis

The Relationship Among Spirituality, Self-Efficacy, COVID-19 Anxiety, and Hopelessness During the COVID-19 Process in Turkey: A Path Analysis

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Among Healthcare Workers Diagnosed With COVID-19 in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2020 to 2021

Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine Use and Suicide Risk: Hypotheses for Confluent Etiopathogenetic Mechanisms?

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