IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i11p6811-d830477.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Return to Work of Healthcare Workers after SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Determinants of Physical and Mental Health

Author

Listed:
  • Maddalena Grazzini

    (Health Direction, Careggi University Hospital, 50134 Florence, Italy)

  • Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli

    (Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
    Occupational Medicine School, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy)

  • Nicola Mucci

    (Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy)

  • Diana Paolini

    (Health Direction, Careggi University Hospital, 50134 Florence, Italy)

  • Antonio Baldassarre

    (Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy)

  • Veronica Gallinoro

    (Medical Specialization School of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy)

  • Annarita Chiarelli

    (Occupational Medicine Unit, Careggi University Hospital, 50134 Florence, Italy)

  • Fabrizio Niccolini

    (Health Direction, Careggi University Hospital, 50134 Florence, Italy)

  • Giulio Arcangeli

    (Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy)

Abstract

Introduction. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has involved healthcare workers (HCWs) both as caregivers and as patients. This study is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the HCWs working in a third-level hospital in Central Italy who were infected with COVID-19 from March 2020 to April 2021. This research aims at identifying the physical and mental health outcomes of HCWs infected with COVID-19 who returned to work after the infection, the determinants of those outcomes, such as age and sex, and the identification of possible vulnerable professional groups. Methods. A questionnaire about the acute illness, the experience of returning to work, and health perceptions after the disease was administered to 427 healthcare workers 3 months after recovering from the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results. The majority interviewed (84.5%) reported symptoms at the time of the positive test, with no significant differences regarding age or sex, while a significant difference in the mean age was found regarding hospitalization ( p < 0.001). At 3 months after the infection, females ( p = 0.001), older workers ( p < 0.001), and healthcare assistants ( p < 0.001) were more likely to report persistent symptoms. Sex ( p = 0.02) and age ( p = 0.006) influenced the quality of sleep after the infection. At work, the nurses group reported increase in workload ( p = 0.03) and worse relationships ( p = 0.028). At 3 months after the infection, female workers perceived worse physical ( p = 0.002) and mental ( p < 0.001) health status according to the SF-12. A negative correlation was found between age and PCS score ( p < 0.001) but not MCS score ( p = 0.86). A significant difference in PCS score was found between nurses and physicians ( p = 0.04) and between residents and all other groups ( p < 0.001). Finally, the group of workers reporting sleep alterations showed lower PCS and MCS scores ( p < 0.001) and working relationships had an impact on MCS scores ( p < 0.001). Conclusions. Age, sex, and type of job had an impact on physical and mental outcomes. Organizing specific interventions, also tailored to professional sub-groups, should be a target for healthcare systems to protect and boost the physical and mental health of their workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Maddalena Grazzini & Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Nicola Mucci & Diana Paolini & Antonio Baldassarre & Veronica Gallinoro & Annarita Chiarelli & Fabrizio Niccolini & Giulio Arcangeli, 2022. "Return to Work of Healthcare Workers after SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Determinants of Physical and Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-13, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6811-:d:830477
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6811/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6811/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Gabriele Giorgi & Caterina Pandolfi & Giulia Foti & Georgia Libera Finstad & Giulio Arcangeli & Nicola Mucci, 2021. "Identifying Psychosocial Risks and Protective Measures for Workers’ Mental Wellbeing at the Time of COVID-19: A Narrative Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-26, December.
    2. Patricia Gray & Sipho Senabe & Nisha Naicker & Spo Kgalamono & Annalee Yassi & Jerry M. Spiegel, 2019. "Workplace-Based Organizational Interventions Promoting Mental Health and Happiness among Healthcare Workers: A Realist Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Antonio Baldassarre & Gabriele Giorgi & Federico Alessio & Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Giulio Arcangeli & Nicola Mucci, 2020. "Stigma and Discrimination (SAD) at the Time of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-29, August.
    4. Gabriele Giorgi & Luigi Isaia Lecca & Federico Alessio & Georgia Libera Finstad & Giorgia Bondanini & Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Giulio Arcangeli & Nicola Mucci, 2020. "COVID-19-Related Mental Health Effects in the Workplace: A Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-22, October.
    5. Georgia Libera Finstad & Gabriele Giorgi & Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Caterina Pandolfi & Giulia Foti & José M. León-Perez & Francisco J. Cantero-Sánchez & Nicola Mucci, 2021. "Resilience, Coping Strategies and Posttraumatic Growth in the Workplace Following COVID-19: A Narrative Review on the Positive Aspects of Trauma," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-25, September.
    6. Pavani Rangachari & Jacquelynn L. Woods, 2020. "Preserving Organizational Resilience, Patient Safety, and Staff Retention during COVID-19 Requires a Holistic Consideration of the Psychological Safety of Healthcare Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-12, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Antonio Baldassarre & Annarita Chiarelli & Antonella Mariniello & Diana Paolini & Maddalena Grazzini & Nicola Mucci & Giulio Arcangeli, 2023. "Physical Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Population of Italian Healthcare Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Danilo Buonsenso & Maria Rosaria Gualano & Maria Francesca Rossi & Angelica Valz Gris & Leuconoe Grazia Sisti & Ivan Borrelli & Paolo Emilio Santoro & Antonio Tumminello & Carolina Gentili & Walter Ma, 2022. "Post-Acute COVID-19 Sequelae in a Working Population at One Year Follow-Up: A Wide Range of Impacts from an Italian Sample," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-12, September.
    3. Nicola Magnavita & Gabriele Arnesano & Reparata Rosa Di Prinzio & Martina Gasbarri & Igor Meraglia & Marco Merella & Maria Eugenia Vacca, 2023. "Post-COVID Symptoms in Occupational Cohorts: Effects on Health and Work Ability," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-13, April.
    4. David Monier & Paul Bonjean & Pierre Carcasset & Martine Moulin & Bruno Pozzetto & Elisabeth Botelho-Nevers & Luc Fontana & Carole Pelissier, 2023. "Factors Contributing to Delayed Return to Work among French Healthcare Professionals Afflicted by COVID-19 at a Hospital in the Rhône-Alpes Region, 2021," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(21), pages 1-8, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Georgia Libera Finstad & Gabriele Giorgi & Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Caterina Pandolfi & Giulia Foti & José M. León-Perez & Francisco J. Cantero-Sánchez & Nicola Mucci, 2021. "Resilience, Coping Strategies and Posttraumatic Growth in the Workplace Following COVID-19: A Narrative Review on the Positive Aspects of Trauma," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-25, September.
    2. Inge E. M. Hendrikx & Stef C. G. Vermeulen & Vera L. W. Wientjens & Remco S. Mannak, 2022. "Is Team Resilience More Than the Sum of Its Parts? A Quantitative Study on Emergency Healthcare Teams during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-14, June.
    3. Patricia Angeli da Silva Pigati & Renato Fraga Righetti & Victor Zuniga Dourado & Bruna Tiemi Cunha Nisiaymamoto & Beatriz Mangueira Saraiva-Romanholo & Iolanda de Fátima Lopes Calvo Tibério, 2022. "Resilience Improves the Quality of Life and Subjective Happiness of Physiotherapists during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Gabriele Giorgi & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Nicola Mucci & Antonio L. Leal-Rodríguez, 2022. "The Dark Side and the Light Side of Technology-Related Stress and Stress Related to Workplace Innovations: From Artificial Intelligence to Business Transformations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-5, January.
    5. Stephanie Lange & Claire-Marie Altrock & Emily Gossmann & Jörg M. Fegert & Andreas Jud, 2022. "COVID-19—What Price Do Children Pay? An Analysis of Economic and Social Policy Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-15, June.
    6. Amanda T. Sawyer & Hong Tao & Amanda K. Bailey, 2023. "The Impact of a Psychoeducational Group Program on the Mental Well-Being of Unit-Based Nurse Leaders: A Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(11), pages 1-19, June.
    7. Fraser Carson & Natalie Dynon & Joe Santoro & Peter Kremer, 2020. "Examining Negative Emotional Symptoms and Psychological Wellbeing of Australian Sport Officials," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-14, November.
    8. Ullah, Faiz & Harrigan, Nicholas M., 2022. "A natural experiment in social security as public health measure: Experiences of international students as temporary migrant workers during two Covid-19 lockdowns," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    9. Michał Błaszczyk & Milan Popović & Karolina Zajdel & Radosław Zajdel, 2022. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Organisation of Remote Work in IT Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-14, October.
    10. Kirsten Barnicot & Rose McCabe & Angeliki Bogosian & Renos Papadopoulos & Mike Crawford & Peter Aitken & Tanja Christensen & Jonathan Wilson & Bonnie Teague & Ravi Rana & Donna Willis & Ryan Barclay &, 2023. "Predictors of Post-Traumatic Growth in a Sample of United Kingdom Mental and Community Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-20, February.
    11. Francesco Pace & Giulia Sciotto & Naomi Alexia Randazzo & Vincenza Macaluso, 2022. "Teachers’ Work-Related Well-Being in Times of COVID-19: The Effects of Technostress and Online Teaching," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-10, October.
    12. Clément Cormi & Stéphane Sanchez & Valentine de l’Estoile & Laura Ollivier & Aude Letty & Gilles Berrut & Emmanuel Mulin, 2021. "Telepsychiatry to Provide Mental Health Support to Healthcare Professionals during the COVID-19 Crisis: A Cross-Sectional Survey among 321 Healthcare Professionals in France," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-14, September.
    13. Maria Marin-Farrona & Manuel Leon-Jimenez & Jorge Garcia-Unanue & Leonor Gallardo & Carmen Crespo-Ruiz & Beatriz Crespo-Ruiz, 2020. "Transtheoretical Model Is Better Predictor of Physiological Stress than Perceived Stress Scale and Work Ability Index among Office Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-15, June.
    14. Alexander Frank Pasquel Cajas & Verónica Tomasa Cajas Bravo & Roberto Carlos Dávila Morán, 2023. "Remote Work in Peru during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-25, February.
    15. Lauren R. Gullett & Dana M. Alhasan & W. Braxton Jackson & Chandra L. Jackson, 2022. "Employment Industry and Occupational Class in Relation to Serious Psychological Distress in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-26, July.
    16. Suk-Jung Han & Ji-Young Chun & Hye-Jin Bae, 2022. "Post-Traumatic Growth of Nurses in COVID-19 Designated Hospitals in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, December.
    17. Leonel Prieto & Md Farid Talukder, 2023. "Resilient Agility: A Necessary Condition for Employee and Organizational Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    18. Ruixin Su & Bojan Obrenovic & Jianguo Du & Danijela Godinic & Akmal Khudaykulov, 2022. "COVID-19 Pandemic Implications for Corporate Sustainability and Society: A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-23, January.
    19. Jade Sheen & Elizabeth M. Clancy & Julie Considine & Alison Dwyer & Phillip Tchernegovski & Anna Aridas & Brian En Chyi Lee & Andrea Reupert & Leanne Boyd, 2022. "“Did You Bring It Home with You?” A Qualitative Investigation of the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Victorian Frontline Healthcare Workers and Their Families," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-20, April.
    20. Perri Campbell & Erin Wilson & Luke John Howie & Andrew Joyce & Jenny Crosbie & Robyn Eversole, 2024. "The Role of Shared Resilience in Building Employment Pathways with People with a Disability," Disabilities, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-16, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6811-:d:830477. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.