Nurses endured high risks of psychological problems under the epidemic of COVID-19 in a longitudinal study in Wuhan China

Abstract

Background Health care workers, especially frontline nurses, faced great challenges during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Aims To assess the magnitude of the psychological status and associated risk factors among nurses in the pandemic center in Wuhan, China. Methods In this study, we enrolled nurses from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University. The questionnaire was designed to obtain basic information of the participants, and included four psychological assessment scales. We issued the questionnaires at two different points of time. We conducted the first survey on January 29 to February 2 (outbreak period) with 709 eligible responses, and the second survey on February 26 to February 28 (stable period) with 621 eligible responses. The nurses from Wuchang Fangcang shelter hospital were also enrolled in the second survey. Results During the pandemic, over one-third of nurses suffered from depression, anxiety, and insomnia. In the outbreak period, the nurses showed significantly higher risks for depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms than those in the stable period ( P < 0.01). Notably, the nurses from the Fangcang shelter hospitals were more likely to present psychological problems than those from other frontline or non-frontline (all P < 0.001) units, especially for insomnia (38.3% with severe insomnia). The nurses from the frontline, with worse physical condition and uncertain concerns about this pandemic as compared to the others, were more likely to bear psychological problems. Thus, online psychological information and sufficient protection conditions were effective interventions to help mitigate psychological distress. The nurses from Fangcang shelter hospitals suffered a significantly higher risk of psychological problems than those from other units. Conclusion The psychological status of nurses needs more attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for those who fought in the frontline during the peak of the outbreak.

Awareness, Attitudes, Prevention, and Perceptions of COVID-19 Outbreak among Nurses in Saudi Arabia

“…For example, one recent study in Poland found that healthcare workers who are exposed to COVID-19 infection have greater risk of depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders [6]. Similar results were also found in one study in Iran [7] and China [8], finding that nurses experience greater stress, extreme physical fatigue, anxiety, and insomnia during rendering of care, leading to reduced quality of patient care. In another study in Greece, nurses and doctors working in public hospitals had issues of sleep disorders during the pandemic [9].…”

“…As of 2 November 2020, countries most affected by this outbreak are the United States (9,208,876 cases), India (8,229,313), and Brazil (5,545,705) [5]. In recent months, this COVID-19 infection has caused the unparalleled hastening of infection transmission worldwide, mostly affecting healthcare workers' well-being.…”

Interventions to address mental health issues in healthcare workers during infectious disease outbreaks: A systematic review

“…Our search strategy produced a total of 5128 articles from all the databases. After the screening process, 21 articles ( Aiello et al, 2011 ; Albott et al, 2020 ; Bansal et al, 2020 ; Blake et al, 2020 ; Buselli et al, 2020 ; Cai et al, 2020 ; Chen et al, 2006 ; Cheng et al, 2020 ; Cheung et al, 2020 ; Cole et al, 2020 ; Donnelly et al, 2020 ; Robert E. Feinstein et al, 2020 ; Gonzalez et al, 2020 ; Hong et al, 2020 ; Maunder et al, 2003 , 2010 ; Ping et al, 2020 ; Schreiber et al, 2019 ; Sockalingam et al, 2020 ; Waterman et al, 2018 ; Zhou et al, 2020 ) were eligible to be included in the systematic review ( Figure 1 ). Through the hand-search of the latter, three additional articles ( Geoffroy et al, 2020 ; Giordano et al, 2020 ; Khee et al, 2004 ) were identified and included.…”

“…Most of the included articles reported interventions implemented in China (20.8%) ( Cai et al, 2020 ; Cheng et al, 2020 ; Cheung et al, 2020 ; Hong et al, 2020 ; Zhou et al, 2020 ) and Canada (16.7%) ( Aiello et al, 2011 ; Maunder et al, 2003 , 2010 ; Sockalingam et al, 2020 ), followed by USA ( Albott et al, 2020 ; Robert E. Feinstein et al, 2020 ; Gonzalez et al, 2020 ) and UK ( Blake et al, 2020 ; Cole et al, 2020 ; Donnelly et al, 2020 ) (12.6%, respectively). The rest of the articles referred to Italy ( Buselli et al, 2020 ; Giordano et al, 2020 ) and Africa ( Schreiber et al, 2019 ; Waterman et al, 2018 ) (8.4%, respectively), and Taiwan ( Chen et al, 2006 ), Singapore ( Khee et al, 2004 ), Malaysia ( Ping et al, 2020 ), France ( Geoffroy et al, 2020 ), Spain ( Mira et al, 2020 ) (4.1%, respectively).…”

The use of mental health promotion strategies by nurses to reduce anxiety, stress, and depression during the COVID-19 outbreak: A prospective cohort study

“…Thus, nurses’ stress symptoms have been found to significantly decrease over time. A study conducted in China with a sample of nurses, from January 28, 2020, to February 2, 2020, also showed that anxiety levels decreased and were stable from February 26, to February 28, 2020 ( Cai et al, 2020 ). However, a study conducted in Japan concluded that healthcare workers’ anxiety levels increased between March and May 2020 ( Sasaki et al, 2020 ).…”