Psychosomatic health and sympathetic nervous adaptation of health professionals and the general population during the second covid-19 wave in Greece. between-group comparisons and regression analysis

Abstract

Background: Based on previous COVID-19 global literature, the second COVID-19 outbreak in Greece probably created a stressful environment for health professionals and the general population. It is likely that psychosomatic and sympathetic nervous symptoms increased in both groups.Aim: The study tests whether health professionals would present significantly higher levels of psychosomatic and sympathetic nervous symptoms, and whether several biopsychosocial criteria would predict psychosomatic symptoms overall.Material & Methods: 192 participants were recruited though the snowball strategy after the first domestic COVID-19 lockdown in Greece. Participants provided socio-demographic details, while they answered measurements regarding nervous adaptation (DASS-21), psychosomatics (PSSQ-29), resilience (NMRQ), self-efficacy (GSE) and personality (IPIP-50). The researchers performed independent t-tests, one-way ANOVAs, Pearson’s r correlation analysis and a multiple linear regression.Results: Health professionals experienced significantly less psychosomatic and sympathetic nervous symptoms compared to the general population, while none of the socio-demographic variables show between-groups differences. 10 out of 15 biopsychosocial variables were found significantly correlated with psychosomatic symptoms. The predictive model (Adjusted R2= .586) shows ‘stress’ (β= .242, p= .006), ‘anxiety’ (β= .494, p< .001) and ‘emotional stability’ (β= -.160, p= .004) to be significant predictors, excluding ‘gender’, ‘being a health professional’, ‘resilience’, ‘self-efficacy’ and ‘extraversion’.Conclusions: The findings contradict to previous studies regarding psychosomatic and sympathetic nervous symptoms in the COVID-19 era. Additionally, the prediction model is not consistent to the theories regarding resilience and self-efficacy. The present study provides much debate in the relevant fields of research.

Occupational Stress of Pediatric Emergency Nurses in Greece During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Greek studies investigating frontline nurses agree with our findings (Latsou et al, 2022), where primary care nurses reported less stress (Pataka et al, 2022). However, the stress experienced by Greek nurses is significantly less than the general Greek population (Pilafas & Lyrakos, 2021).…”