Hardiness, Stress and Secondary Trauma in Italian Healthcare and Emergency Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic can lead healthcare and emergency workers to undergo severe stress reactions that increase the risk of developing secondary trauma. Hardiness is a protective factor that reduces the likelihood of negative outcomes such as secondary trauma. In this study, we analyzed the responses to physical, emotional, cognitive, organizational‒relational and COVID-19 stress of 140 healthcare and 96 emergency workers. Decision-making difficulties due to high uncertainty and the fear of contracting the virus and infecting others were also considered. We aimed to detect which stressors caused secondary trauma and to assess the protective power of hardiness. Participants completed the questionnaire online measuring stress, secondary trauma and resilience. We performed a t-test, correlational analysis and hierarchical regression. The healthcare workers had higher levels of stress and arousal than the emergency workers group and those involved in the treatment of COVID-19 were exposed to a large degree of stress and were at high risk of developing secondary trauma. Commitment is associated with high levels of stress, arousal and intrusion, while control shows a protective function. Stress and hardiness result in 37% and 17% of the variance of arousal and intrusion, respectively.