De Rose, AlessandraArezzo, Maria FeliceAmore, MarioCuomo, AlessandroDe Filippis, SergioLa Pia, SilvestroPasqualini, MartaPirani, AlessandroTorta, RiccardoFagiolini, Andrea2024-04-222024-04-222023De Rose A, Arezzo MF, Amore M, Cuomo A, De Filippis S, La Pia S, et al. Vulnerabilities in mental health due to Covid-19 pandemic: the response of the Italian physicians. Soc Indic Res. 2023 Aug;168(1-3):539-56. DOI: 10.1007/s11205-023-03111-y1573-0921http://hdl.handle.net/10230/59871COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities in societies. In this paper we analyse the categories that have suffered more than others from the pandemic and the restrictions on social life in terms of mental health. We rely on the Serendipity project based on a survey administered between November 2021 and February 2022 to a sample of Italian physicians (n = 1281). The survey aimed to assess the perception of general practitioners, paediatricians, geriatricians, and mental health specialists (psychiatrists, neurologists, child neuropsychiatrists), about changes in the mental health of the population as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown. The strategies implemented by the doctors interviewed in terms of the intensity of the prevention, emergence, and treatment of mental health interventions, and their association with physicians’ characteristics and their opinions on patient vulnerability have been illustrated by means of a multiple correspondence analysis. An overall result of the survey is the consensus of doctors on the worsening of mental health in general population, especially among their patients, due to the pandemic and on the onset of new discomforts. The most exposed individuals to the risk of onset or worsening of mental disorders include women, young people, and patients with psychiatric comorbidity. The paper also illustrates the interventions put in place by the physicians and deemed necessary from a public heath response perspective, that include providing psychoeducation to the general population, improving telehealth services, and increasing financial and human resources for community-based care.application/pdfengThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03111-yCovid-19VulnerabilityMental healthPsychiatryPublic heath responseItalyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess