The Role of Work Engagement in Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic among Mental Healthcare Workers: An Italian Study to Improve Work Sustainability during Emergency Situations

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers faced an emergency that had significant psychological impacts on them. In this study, an investigation regarding work engagement as a protective factor for well-being was conducted on a sample of Italian healthcare workers in the field of mental health. Correlation and linear regression analyses were run on scores of standardized questionnaires about work engagement, burnout, resilience, stress, and coping strategies. Results indicate that work engagement is positively correlated with resilience, while it is negatively correlated with burnout and stress, particularly caused by personal attacks at work. As concerns the use of functional or dysfunctional coping strategies, negative correlations between work engagement and problem avoidance and emotional distress strategies were found. In conclusion, work engagement was confirmed to be an important protective factor that should be promoted among mental healthcare professionals to help them deal with health emergencies and to improve the psychological sustainability of the work.