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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Psychological burden, stress, depression, and resilience among midwives: An epidemiological study in Thessaly, Greece
Aikaterini Sousamli1* ,
Foteini Malli1 ,
Konstantinos Tsaras1 ,
Panagiota Dourou1 ,
Antigoni Sarantaki1 ,
Maria Malliarou2,3
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1 Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health and Care Sciences, University of West Attica, Athens,
Greece
2 Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa,
Greece
3 Laboratory of Education and Research of Trauma Care and Patient Safety (Labedu TraumaCare), Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa,
Greece
JCBP, 025200040 https://doi.org/10.36922/JCBP025200040
Received: 16 May 2025 | Revised: 4 July 2025 | Accepted: 10 July 2025 | Published online: 25 July 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly affected the mental health of health-care professionals, including midwives. This study assessed stress, depression, and psychological resilience among midwives in the Thessaly region of Greece and identified associated demographic, socioeconomic, and occupational factors. Between February and March 2021, data were collected from 102 midwives using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory. Overall, 79.4% of participants feared contracting COVID-19 at work, and 90.2% feared transmitting the virus to family members. While 63.0% showed no depressive symptoms, 15.0% reported mild symptoms. Poor or moderate self-reported health, reduced time spent with patients, employment in the public sector, longer years of service, and concern about transmitting the virus were significantly associated with worse mental-health outcomes. High stress levels correlated with increased depression risk, while higher psychological resilience was protective. In conclusion, midwives in Thessaly experienced a considerable psychological burden during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the need for targeted mental health interventions.
Keywords
Midwives
Coronavirus disease 2019
Stress
Depression
Resilience
Mental health
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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