*1.3. Current Study*

Consistently with the results of the literature on the topic, it seems reasonable to assume that specific contextual situations as well as some individual characteristics—i.e., personality traits, intolerance of uncertainty, coping strategies—have specific relations among them and differently impact on psychological outcomes, specifically on perceived stress. Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted to explicitly investigate these associations in samples of HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thus, also considering the great amount of work, under uncertain and stressful conditions, the present study aimed at investigating, in a sample of Italian HCWs, employed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relations between some personal characteristics and perceived stress, by testing whether the variable "having worked on the frontline" (i.e., in a COVID dedicated ward) or "not having worked on the frontline" (i.e., in other wards) affects them (i.e., affects the relations between the variables taken into account).

The analyses revealed significant differences both in the levels of perceived stress, which were higher in the frontline HCWs than in the non-frontline, and in the structure of the associations between the two groups, specifically concerning the relations between: personality traits and intolerance of uncertainty; intolerance of uncertainty and coping strategies. Regarding the relations between coping strategies and stress, no difference was identified. In both groups, the use of emotional coping strategies was linked indeed to lower levels of perceived stress, while the use of dysfunctional coping strategies to higher levels of perceived stress.
