Beliefs towards the COVID-19 pandemic among patients with emotional disorders in China

Abstract

BackgroundThe novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has given rise to fear and panic in the public. Although hospitals in China reduced outpatient visits and restricted inpatient admission to lower the risk of transmission of COVID-19, this has significantly affected patients in need of medical attention, for example, patients with emotional disorders.AimsThis study aimed to compare the beliefs towards COVID-19 among outpatients with emotional disorders (ie, anxiety or depression) with those of family caregivers and the general public and examine factors that shape the beliefs towards COVID-19 among outpatients with emotional disorders.MethodsSurvey data from 570 outpatients with anxiety or depression disorders, 449 family caregivers and 470 general public subjects were collected. Multiple stepwise regression analyses were used to describe participants’ level of concern, prevention attitude and positive expectations towards the COVID-19 outbreak.ResultsAbout 70.9% of outpatients had to postpone their mental health treatment; 43.2% of patients admitted that their mental health was adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak—these patients tended to be older, male and less educated. After controlling for age and education level, outpatients with emotional disorders had significantly lower levels of concerns but more negative expectations towards COVID-19, compared with family caregivers and the public. Multivariate linear stepwise regression analysis showed that age, education and the perception of the impact of COVID-19 on one’s existing mental illness were significantly associated with outpatients’ beliefs about the epidemic.ConclusionOutpatients with anxiety or depression disorders were relatively less focused on the COVID-19 outbreak, but the impact of the infection was found to be independently associated with their beliefs towards COVID-19. In addition, outpatients who were older and of low educational levels particularly held more negative beliefs about the epidemic, which may place them at a higher risk for poor mental health.

Eight Months Into The COVID-19 Outbreak, Whether This Pandemic Still Psychologically Affected Convalescent Psychiatric Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

“…In another study, anxiety disorder patients did not exhibit with marked psychological impact secondary to COVID-19 18 . According to Gao et al, 43.2% of patients with emotional disorder were affected, similar to our nding 13 . One explanation we proposed would contribute to this result: negative news like the virus might strike again during the upcoming winter trigger a series of emotional stress responses including anxiety and fear since these stable patients could easily access the Internet and media.…”

“…This ongoing public health crisis reduced outpatient visits and hindered patients from obtaining timely medication. The previous study conducted by Gao et al found that 70% of outpatients with emotional disorders had to postpone their mental health treatment, and had more negative expectations towards COVID-19 13 . However, there remains few research on investigating the in uence of COVID-19 pandemic on psychiatric patients in stable condition; and the published surveys were about the psychological impacts in the early stage of the outbreak.…”

The Increased Risk of Complicated Ureteral Stones in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Given that, people are becoming more and more anxious with the fear of getting infected and therefore may start to keep themselves away from hospitals, even if they have serious conditions. 21 In a huge biosocial crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, more professional and holistic approaches are required to control the health care system. In this context, activating the telehealth system may be promising.…”

Worries, strategies, and confidence of older Chinese adults during the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak

“…The WSQ Scale has acceptable reliability and validity and the detailed procedure of its psychometrics were reported in a previous manuscript. 24 The scale consists of three dimensions as follows: self-worries, self-prevention strategies and confidence. The scale at two waves were 0.62 and 0.66 respectively, which were acceptable as an explorative questionnaire.…”