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Examining the "worried well" phenomenon: insights from Italy's AIDS and STIs Helpline
Matteo Schwarz1, Pietro Gallo1, Anna Colucci1
1Unità Operativa Ricerca Psico-Socio-Comportamentale, Comunicazione, Formazione, Dipartimento Malattie Infettive, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Background:
The fear of having contracted HIV or another sexually transmitted infection (STI), even in the absence of significant risk factors, is a globally observed phenomenon across diverse cultural, social, and healthcare settings. Helplines serve as a valuable observatory for this pattern, often described as "worried well" (WW). This study investigates the WW phenomenon with the objective of assessing whether the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a compounding factor in its intensification.
Methods:
AIDS and STIs Helpline of the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS) extracted data from a structured database and analyzed patterns related to callers' concerns.
Results:
Between 2018 and 2023, 4,703 calls were analysed, showing how WWs represent 8.1% of all users and questions asked by WWs accounted for 7.8% of the total number of questions received by the AIDS and STIs Helpline.
Conclusions:
While the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to an intensification of the WW phenomenon, its origins are more deeply rooted in factors such as psychological distress and limited health literacy.
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