Abstract
Objective: The study aimed to explore the psychological symptoms and the readiness to fight the pandemic of the new generation of healthcare professionals: medical and other healthcare degree students.Methods: We enrolled 509 medical and healthcare-related degree students during the second outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy. We have examined their psychological symptoms using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and their readiness to fight the pandemic together with their academic career status, their relationship with the university, and their emotional reactions to the pandemic with Visual Analog Scales.Results: We retrieved a GHQ mean of 21.65 (SD = 40.63) and readiness to fight the pandemic mean of 53.58 (SD = 31.49). Perceived control affects variables: a negative effect on psychological symptoms and a positive effect on the willingness to fight the pandemic. The other variables with an impact were stress, loneliness, and anger that had a significant and positive impact on psychological symptoms. Age and concern for patients had a significant positive impact on readiness to fight for the pandemic, while years of attendance had a significant but negative impact.Conclusion: Universities and Institutions should consider the impact of the pandemic on students, in particular, for its effect on their mental health.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the lives of people significantly for the past year
We found that students in health professions in our sample respected the rules imposed by the government to restrict the pandemic, and they think that their behavior is protective, but fear for their family members and cohabitants is high
The percentage of women in our sample reflects the real situation in the health professions in the Italian context (Comitato Unico di Garanzia dell’Università degli Studi di Milano, 2017), but we have to point out that women usually have a greater probability of meeting criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the lives of people significantly for the past year. In particular, has been one of the most affected countries, with a substantial number of cases that, despite numerous restrictions, stopped increasing for a while (Distante et al, 2020; Remuzzi and Remuzzi, 2020). During this tough time, we have experienced an apocalyptic-like scenario where the streets were empty and the hospitals were full. Hospitalization, infections, and deaths linked to COVID19 returned and rose exponentially, leaving people facing new restrictions and several hard consequences: freedom of movement was severely constrained in most of the Italian regions, the majority of workers started to operate from home again, shops were closed, and restaurants were forced to limited opening, with this having a major impact on the economy People were forced into their homes starting from March 9, 2020, to May 18, 2020, with this affecting significantly their quality of life and mental health status (Masiero et al, 2020; Pizzoli et al, 2020; Prete et al, 2020; Serafini et al, 2020; Monzani et al, 2021).
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