The Effect of the Pandemic on the Care of Patients with Mental Disorders: Measure of "Compassion Fatigue" and "Burn-Out" in the Operator.

Minò, Maria Vincenza; Vacca, Antonella; Colizzi, Ivana; Solomita, Barbara; Franza, Francesco; Tavormina, Giuseppe

BACKGROUND The Covid-19 Pandemic has had a significant impact on psychophysical well-being and the ability to work productively in contexts concerning people's physical and mental care. The helping professions involved have seen an increase in stress levels, a sense of helplessness, fear, pain and social isolation. They are anchored to the hope of being able to return to their normality. METHOD In this study, 87 mental health operators were evaluated, divided into nurses, psychiatric rehabilitation technicians, educators, social workers, psychologists and doctors, working in two psychiatric care rehabilitation communities in Puglia and Campania in southern Italy. RESULTS The results obtained with the administration of the scales ProQOL, BHS, Save-9, BDI-II, BEES reported a remarkable impact in nursing and medical professions due to the pandemic. A 11%. burn-out was reported by nurses. CONCLUSIONS The collected data are comparable to the previous work (Franza et al. 2015, 2020); however, there is no evidence of a high level of burnout in the helping professions involved in this study.