Determinate factors of mental health status in Chinese medical staff

Abstract

Numerous previous studies have investigated the mental health status of medical staff in China and explored its associated determinate factors; however, scope and methods associated with these have introduced uncertainty regarding the results. The aim of this study was to perform a comprehensive examination of the mental health status of Chinese medical staff and its relative risk factors based on a cross-sectional survey.We conducted a broad area, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey of Chinese medical workers. Participants were randomly selected from 27 hospitals in the Heilongjiang province. The questionnaire that was distributed consisted of 5 parts: the demographic characteristics of the participant; questions related to the relative risk factors of psychological health; the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C); the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS); and the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). The last 3 components were used to evaluate the mental health status of the target population. Logistic and linear regression were used to analyze the determinate factors of the mental health status of Chinese medical staff.Of the 1679 questionnaires distributed, 1557 medical workers responded (response rate: 92.73%; male: 24.1%; female 75.9%). The results of mental health status self-assessments indicated that 32.3% of participants were considered to have some degree of PTSD (based on the PCL-C). The SDS index was 0.67 and the mean score from SAS was 55.26; a result higher than found in the general population. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that being female, dissatisfaction or average satisfaction with income, and good or very good self-perceived psychological endurance when faced with an emergency were associated with a reduction of PTSD symptoms. A frequency of verbal abuse incidents greater than 4 was associated with an increase in PTSD symptoms.The mental health status of Chinese medical staff is poor. While the determinate factors based on different measurement standards were not completely consistent, the overlapping major risk factors identified that influenced psychological health were the amount of education, the perceived level of respect, and psychological endurance.

Anxiety and Depression in Health Workers and General Population During COVID-19 Epidemic in IRAN: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…They reported that the intervention was conducive to reducing social anxiety during the pandemic (1). Previous studies reported that the mental health of medical workers was in a worse state compared with the general population (28)(29)(30), which is consistent with the present results.…”

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“…We measured the anxiety level of the medical staff under the impact of COVID-19 epidemic, the results demonstrated that there was no substantial difference between experimental group and control group. However, it was not consistent with the anxiety scores of other two medical staff groups (direct contact treatment vs non-direct contact treatment) [25], and the anxiety scores of our two group were both lower than the medical staff from Heilongjiang province in China as compared with the studies conducted by Liu [26] and Zhou [27] respectively, this may be because all of our participants were military medical staff with relatively better psychological endurance and adjustment ability. Meanwhile, our experimental group working in Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, which was located in the epicenter of the crisis, they had better organizational support and more trust in equipment/infection control initiatives, so the anxiety level was not very high and their tenacity was more easily stimulated than the control group (T=0.308, P=0.028).…”

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