Psychological and Physical Distress in Italian People during COVID-19 Pandemic: One Year Later.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the major life changes that Italian people experienced after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed the psychological and physical impact of COVID-19 within one year of the pandemic situation, and its possible correlation with the positive COVID-19 trend in the Italian region. We invited Italian people to complete a cross-sectional, online survey within a three-week period from 14 March to 4 April 2021. The survey collected data on the participants' stress and physical levels, attitude, perceived control, norms, personal and professional backgrounds, and place of stay in the last year. We used Student's t-test and the software package GRETL for Windows to assess the association between the study outcome variables and the explanatory variables (stress, attitude, perceived control, and norms). All participants who declared a level of physical stress in their answer suffered from psychological stress, but not vice versa. The result to be highlighted is that this level of stress was found more in women and in the age range of 21-45 years.

The experience of Italian nurses and midwives in the termination of pregnancy: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to provide insight into the experiences of nurses and midwives working in the Italian abortion service. METHODS: Study participants were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted between July and September 2016, among 22 nurses and two midwives working in five abortion services in Milan, Italy. Transcripts of interviews were analysed using a phenomenological approach to data analysis. RESULTS: Five main themes emerged from the analysis: (a) coping with caring for women undergoing a termination of pregnancy; (b) improving professional training; (c) approaching work in a mechanistic way as a means of overcoming difficulties; (4) performing medical abortions; (d) recounting an experience. CONCLUSIONS: This first study about assisting with pregnancy termination in Italy may enable critical comparison with studies carried out in other countries. Both nurses and midwives suggested strategies, which may improve the provision of care: collaboration between primary and tertiary care, continuous training, multidisciplinary collaboration, increase of staff turnover and being kept abreast of new pharmaceutical products. Our findings are applicable to wider medical practice.