Emanuele Maria Merlo, Federica Sicari, Liam Alexander MacKenzie Myles, Salvatore Settineri

Key words: affectivity, clinical psychology, euthymia, mental health, mood, well-being

Objective: Euthymia is a transdiagnostic construct characterized by the presence of positive mood states, psychological flexibility and resilience. These components contribute to psychological wellbeing and support mental functioning. Exposure to suffering and high levels of stress can lead to the onset of burnout and secondary traumatic stress, but also lack of compassion satisfaction. The study aimed to test the existing relationships between euthymia, psychological well-being, and factors associated with quality of life of healthy participants involved in medical settings.

Method: The sample was composed of 177 healthy participants involved in medical settings, 118 women (66.7%) and 59 men (33.3%) aged between 19 and 69 years old (mean = 27.16; SD = 8.47). Standardized psychodiagnostics instruments were used to assess euthymia (Euthymia Scale-ES), psychological well-being (The Well-Being Index scale-WHO-5) and the quality of life of the involved participants (Professional Quality of Life Measure-ProQOL-5).

Results: The results showed that gender, well-being and psychological well-being were predictors of compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress. Specifically, female gender predicted higher levels of compassion satisfaction. Well-being and psychological flexibility predicted higher levels of compassion satisfaction and lower secondary traumatic stress. Psychological well-being predicted higher levels of compassion satisfaction.

Conclusion: Promoting euthymia and well-being helps individuals to preserve psychological well-being and increase tolerance to stressful life situations. Results highlighted the need for promoting health care professionals’ euthymia and well-being. In line with evidence, encouraging interventions based on evidence appears relevant.