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Measuring anxiety and depression in parents of hospitalized children during the COVID-19 pandemic in a pediatric Italian hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

C. Correale ,
I. Tondo ,
C. Falamesca ,
G. Amodeo ,
F. Boldrini ,
T. Grimaldi Capitello ,
F. Vigevano  and
S. Cappelletti
C. Correale*
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
I. Tondo
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
C. Falamesca
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
G. Amodeo
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
F. Boldrini
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
T. Grimaldi Capitello
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
F. Vigevano
Affiliation:
Neurological Sciences, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
S. Cappelletti
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Parents of hospitalized children with chronic illness (HCCI) during the COVID-19 epidemic may face huge pressure and worry, leading to mental health issues. Parent’s depression and anxiety disorders increase the risk of mental health problems in the child and affect his/her recovery.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence rate of depressive and anxiety symptoms among a pilot sample of parents of HCCI (in- and out-patients) with diagnosis of epilepsy (9), cystic fibrosis (8) and congenital heart anomalies (6) during COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatric patients were under a regular Children Hospital medical and psychological follow-up program.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study among 23 Italian parents (15 F; 8 M) of HCCI during the COVID-19 epidemic period. We performed face-to face interviews and assessed depressive and anxiety symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD-7) questionnaire during scheduled follow up visits.

Results

The anxiety score of parents of HCCI was 4.43 ± 3.17, of which 39.1% of parents were anxious (≥5 points), while the depression score was 4.04 ± 2.67, of which 30.4% of parents show depressive symptoms (≥5 points). The prevalence of comorbid depressive and anxiety symptoms was 26.1% among the entire sample.

Conclusions

Preliminary data of our pilot study showed a high prevalence of anxious depressive symptoms and comorbidity among parents of HCCI. Timely provision of psychologic interventions are needed during and after COVID-19 pandemic in order to empower parenting and promote children recovery and quality of life.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemicparentsHospitalized childrenanxiety and depression
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S673
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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