An Acute Stress Scale for Health Care Professionals Caring for Patients With COVID-19: Validation Study

Mira, José Joaquín; Cobos‐Vargas, Angel; García, Olga Martínez; Domínguez, María José Bueno; Peña, María Pilar Astier; Pérez-Pérez, Pastora; Carrillo, Irene; Guilabert, Mercedes; Pérez-Jover, Virtudes; Fernández, C.; Vicente, María Asunción; Lahera-Martin, Matilde; Silvestre, Carmen; Lorenzo, Susana; Martinez, Ascension Sanchez; Martín-Delgado, Jimmy; Mula, Aurora; Marco-Gómez, Bárbara; Bouzán, Cristina Abad; Remón, Carlos Aibar; Andrés, Jesús María Aranaz

doi:10.2196/27107

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…COVID-19, compared with SARS, has brought greater risk of death and very high psychological pressure to people worldwide due to its power of "superspreading" among humans [6,31]. Studies have demonstrated the psychological impact of the early stage of COVID-19 on the general population, including college students [32][33][34], and it has been indicated that both medically trained medical staff and nonmedical health care personnel can be affected [35,36]. Our study provided evidence that 251/2270 students (11.1%) encountered mental health issues during the outbreak of COVID-19.…”

Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Factors of Psychological Responses of Chinese University Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Cross-sectional Web-Based Survey Study

Zhang¹,

Shi²,

Wang³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background COVID-19 is a highly contagious and highly pathogenic disease caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and it has become a pandemic. As a vulnerable population, university students are at high risk during the epidemic, as they have high mobility and often overlook the severity of the disease because they receive incomplete information about the epidemic. In addition to the risk of death from infection, the epidemic has placed substantial psychological pressure on the public. In this respect, university students are more prone to psychological problems induced by the epidemic compared to the general population because for most students, university life is their first time outside the structure of the family, and their mental development is still immature. Internal and external expectations and academic stress lead to excessive pressure on students, and unhealthy lifestyles also deteriorate their mental health. The outbreak of COVID-19 was a significant social event, and it could potentially have a great impact on the life and the mental health of university students. Therefore, it is of importance to investigate university students’ mental health status during the outbreak of COVID-19. Objective The principal objective of this study was to investigate the influencing factors of the psychological responses of Chinese university students during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods This study used data from a survey conducted in China between February 21 and 24, 2020, and the data set contains demographic information and psychological measures including the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Self-Rating Depression Scale, and the compulsive behaviors portion of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. A total of 2284 questionnaires were returned, and 2270 of them were valid and were used for analysis. The Mann-Whitney U test for two independent samples and binary logistic regression models were used for statistical analysis. Results Our study surveyed 563 medical students and 1707 nonmedical students. Among them, 251/2270 students (11.06%) had mental health issues. The results showed that contact history of similar infectious disease (odds ratio [OR] 3.363, P=.02), past medical history (OR 3.282, P<.001), and compulsive behaviors (OR 3.525, P<.001) contributed to the risk of mental health issues. Older students (OR 0.928, P=.02), regular daily life during the epidemic outbreak (OR 0.410, P<.001), exercise during the epidemic outbreak (OR 0.456, P<.001), and concern related to COVID-19 (OR 0.638, P=.002) were protective factors for mental health issues. Conclusions According to the study results, mental health issues have seriously affected university students, and our results are beneficial for identifying groups of university students who are at risk for possible mental health issues so that universities and families can prevent or intervene in the development of potential mental health issues at the early stage of their development.

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Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Factors of Psychological Responses of Chinese University Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Cross-sectional Web-Based Survey Study

Zhang¹,

Shi²,

Wang³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

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“…Early in the pandemic, the 10-item Self-Applied Acute Stress Scale (known as EASE) was developed to assess acute stress among healthcare providers of COVID-19 patients [31] . The EASE measure is designed for paid, formal healthcare workers, but has the potential to determine severe stress levels among care providers for COVID-19 patients, thus enabling streamlined planning for resources, support, and long-term relief.…”

Section: Figure 1 Diagram Displaying Search Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The EASE measure is designed for paid, formal healthcare workers, but has the potential to determine severe stress levels among care providers for COVID-19 patients, thus enabling streamlined planning for resources, support, and long-term relief. Furthermore, several items could be feasibly adapted for unpaid caregivers, including: "I keep my distance, I resent dealing with people;" "I have completely lost the taste for things that used to bring me peace of mind or well-being;" "Worrying about not getting sick causes me a strain that is hard to bear;" and "I feel intense physiological reactions related to the current crisis" [31] .…”

Section: Figure 1 Diagram Displaying Search Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of COVID-19 on Informal Caregivers in the US

2021

IJOAR

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Background: Caregiver burden has negative effects on mental and physical health along with quality of life. Meanwhile, social and physical distancing protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic have created additional impacts on informal caregiving in a rapidly changing environment. Early research over the past year suggests that the pandemic has caused increased caregiver burden as well as caregiving intensity among these individuals. Purpose: Our primary purpose in this informational literature review is to describe the impacts of the pandemic on informal caregiver burden and the sudden shift in roles and responsibilities as a result of pandemic-related changes in caregiving. This review will describe emerging effects on various aspects of health among informal caregivers and explore the growing need to support unpaid caregiving during this time. Methods: A streamlined search was conducted to fit the scope of this review, with key terms determined to identify relevant publications. Common research databases and up-to-date mainstream resources were utilized. Notably, we focused on research published or released since March 2020, primarily rapidly reviewed studies, to align with the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Results: Early research suggests that the pandemic has worsened caregiver burden and increased caregiving intensity and hours of care among unpaid, informal family caregivers. Reported health impacts include higher stress, pain, and depression, along with decreased social connectedness and quality of life. Notably, however, COVID-related research generally does not focus on the positive aspects of caregiving, such as its role as a source of purpose in life, creating an opportunity to explore ways to boost certain valuable personal resources among caregivers. Conclusions: Informal family caregivers face their own negative health outcomes and distress as a result of greater caregiver burden, intensity, and the changing landscape of caregiving during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Immediate policy and support recommendations should be considered to alleviate informal caregiver burden and provide ongoing resources over the longer term. In addition, future work should explore the potential of boosting positive resources such as resilience and purpose to ease caregiver burden.

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“…Evidence in the literature of comprehensive measuring of the burden on HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic is limited. 3,9,[12][13][14][15] One scale to measure the burden on HCWs, the Tokyo Metropolitan Distress Scale for Pandemic, measures anxiety about infection and social stress. 42 However, the content validity of this scale has been insufficiently evaluated, and the reliability and interpretability of the scale has not been assessed.…”

Section: Previous Measures For Burdens On Hcwsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies developed new scales for HCWs to measure fear, anxiety, and stress due to COVID-19, [12][13][14][15][16] but important aspects of pandemic-specific burdens such as fatigue, 3,4,17 discrimination, 18,19 and inadequacy as a medical professional were lacking. [20][21][22] To measure the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic adequately, a comprehensive scale focused on the pandemic is needed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Initial Psychometric Validation of the COVID-19 Pandemic Burden Index for Healthcare Workers

et al. 2023

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Background The burden of COVID-19 on healthcare workers (HCWs) is reported to be increasing, yet the psychometric scales now in use evaluate only single aspects; few measure the pandemic-specific burden on HCWs comprehensively. Objective To develop a scale to quantify the physical, mental, and socioeconomic burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on HCWs. Design Scale development and cross-sectional survey. Participants Consenting HCWs aged ≥20. Main Measures Development of an item-list based on literature reviews and HCW panel input, evaluation of content validity and item selection using the Delphi method, psychometric testing conducted on HCWs, validity assessment by factor analyses and hypothesis verification, internal consistency evaluation by Cronbach’s alpha, test-retest analysis, and interpretability assessment. Key Results Through the Delphi process, a 29-item pilot scale was generated. In psychometric testing, data from 863 HCWs contributed to the development of the final version of this scale, called Pandemic Burden Index twenty for HCWs (PBI-20), a 20-item scale to measure six domains: fatigue, fear of infection, inadequacy as a medical professional, mental health concerns, prejudice or discrimination, and anxiety about one’s livelihood and daily life. Factor analysis showed each factor corresponded to the six domains of this scale. Hypothesis verification showed the PBI-20 total score to be moderately to highly correlated with the Short Form 36 vitality score and mental health score and with intention of turnover. The PBI-20 had good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.92). Test-retest analysis showed the intraclass correlation coefficient to be 0.70 and the minimal important change to be −7.0. Conclusions The psychometrically sound questionnaire we developed to measure pandemic-specific burdens for HCWs provides an understanding of comprehensive burdens on HCWs and may serve to evaluate interventions to reduce the burdens. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11606-023-08028-3.

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An Acute Stress Scale for Health Care Professionals Caring for Patients With COVID-19: Validation Study

Cited by 14 publications

References 34 publications

Risk Factors of Psychological Responses of Chinese University Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Cross-sectional Web-Based Survey Study

Risk Factors of Psychological Responses of Chinese University Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Cross-sectional Web-Based Survey Study

The Impact of COVID-19 on Informal Caregivers in the US

Development and Initial Psychometric Validation of the COVID-19 Pandemic Burden Index for Healthcare Workers

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