Fig 1. SEM model evaluating the mediating effects of emotional regulation on the impact of COVID-19 contact and equipment safety on the perceived stress of medical personnel.

Note. CO = contact with COVID-19 patients; SA = perceived safety provided by the protective equipment; PS = perceived stress; CR = cognitive regulation; ES = emotional suppression; WF = wording factor; H = daily number of hours treating COVID-19 patients; P = daily number of COVID-19 patients treated; S1-S14 = Perceived Stress Scale items; E1-E10 = Emotional Regulation Questionnaire items. Squares represent observed variables. Circles represent latent variables. Full unidirectional arrows linking circles and rectangles represent the target factor loadings. Dotted unidirectional arrows linking circles and rectangles represent the cross-loadings. Bidirectional arrows connecting a single circle represent the factor variances. For simplicity, the control variables do not appear represented in the model, as well as the item uniquenesses, the factor uniquenesses, and the residual correlations between variables that share the same predictors.