Positive mental health, depression and burnout in healthcare workers during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Few studies focused on healthcare workers' positive mental health (i.e. high levels of psychological well-being) and its association with anxiety, depression and burnout in the second wave of the pandemic. To evaluate the protective role of well-being in buffering burnout and psychological distress. We evaluated 173 Italian healthcare workers with indicators of psychological distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales [DASS]-21), burnout (Copenhagen Burnout Inventory [CBI]) and positive mental health (Mental Health Continuum) and we cross-classified them according to their levels of mental health (flourishing, languishing and moderate mental health) and their levels of anxiety, depression and burnout. Forty-eight per cent of health workers were classified as flourishing, 10% as languishing and 42% as moderate mental health. Flourishing individuals presented lower scores on DASS and CBI scales, whereas no differences emerged between languishing and moderate mental health groups. More than 80% of health workers with clinically significant symptoms of anxiety, depression and risk of burnout were classified as not flourishing. This investigation documented the presence of flourishing mental health in almost half of the sample of Italian healthcare workers. However, those with moderate or languishing mental health manifested higher levels of anxiety, depression and higher risks of burnout. The study confirms the importance of maintaining and/or promoting the well-being of this population, with a crucial role of mental health nurses who can easily approach other healthcare workers and provide them informational (training, guidelines) and emotional support programmes (psychoeducation, mental health support team, peer support and counselling) when facing adverse working conditions.