In the Eye of the Covid-19 Storm: A Web-Based Survey of Psychological Distress Among People Living in Lombardy

Abstract

In March 2020, the World Health Organization announced the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic and restrictive measures were enacted by the Governments to fight the spread of the virus. In Italy, these measures included a nationwide lockdown, with limited exceptions including grocery shopping, certain work activities, and healthcare. Consistently with findings from previous studies investigating the psychological impact of similar pandemics [e.g., Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)], there is evidence that Covid-19 is associated with negative mental health outcomes. Given this background, we conducted a cross-sectional study aimed at investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictive measures imposed by the Government on the psychological health of Italian men and women aged = 18 years and living in Lombardy, one of the worst-hit regions. The study also aimed at identifying what factors are associated with specific psychological outcomes. Thus, we developed an online survey that included a researcher-made questionnaire to collect sociodemographic, household, general health, and pandemic-related information. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Perceived Stress Scale were used to assess anxiety, depression, and perceived stress, respectively. We found that younger age, greater concerns about the pandemic, female gender, being unmarried, not having children, and being a student were associated with worse psychological health. These findings may provide further insight into the risk factors associated with negative psychological outcomes during the current pandemic, with identification of vulnerable groups. This body of evidence may help professionals implement targeted psychosocial treatment and prevention programs.

Exploring the Relationship Between Self-Isolation and Distress Among People with Gastrointestinal Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Our finding that female respondents were less distressed than male respondents may reflect sample bias towards more distressed males participating in the study, as typically distress in GI conditions is higher in females (Greuter et al, 2020 ). In addition, our study showed lower distress among younger people relative to older participants, which contrasts with pandemic research in the general population (Msherghi et al, 2021 ; Saita et al, 2021 ). While a previous smaller IBD-related study documented greater distress among young people in a younger sample (Cheema et al, 2021 ), we propose that our current findings could be interpreted as reasonable given a likely higher number of co-morbidities, polypharmacy, and greater hesitation to utilise technology as a means to maintain social networks.…”

Community dimensions and emotions in the era of COVID‐19

“…The choice to focus on students was dictated by the observation that this group is among the most exposed to the pandemic risks. Saita, Facchin, Pagnini, & Molgora, ( 2021 ) found that students were more distressed than other groups with higher anxiety, depression, and perceived stress. In this regard, the uncertainty related to the sudden, unexpected transition to distance learning, and concerns about the future (Sahu, 2020 ) might have played an important role, with negative effects on the psychological health of this younger subgroup of people (Saita et al, 2021 ).…”

Mindfully Reframing the Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak Through a Social Media Community for Students: A Pragmatic Study

“…Thinking flexibly and positively about these challenges does not mean to deny the stressful and perhaps depressive aspects of the outbreak, as already identified by other studies (Saita et al, 2021 ). Participants expressed their need to share emotions, in the search for recognition and acceptance.…”