The psychological impact of COVID-19 outbreak on medical staff and the general public

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the psychological effects of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on medical staff and the general public.Methods: During the outbreak of COVID-19, an internet-based questionnaire included The Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) was used to assess the impact of the epidemic situation on the mental health of medical staff and general population in Wuhan and its surrounding areas.Results: The results suggest that the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected individuals significantly, the degree of which is related to age, sex, occupation and mental illness. There was a significant difference in PSS-10 and IES-R scores between the medical staff and the general population. The medical staff showed higher PSS-10 scores (16.813 ± 4.87) and IES-R scores (22.40 ± 12.12) compared to members of the general population PSS-10 (14.80 ± 5.60) and IES-R scores (17.89 ± 13.08). However, there was no statistically significant difference between the SDS scores of medical staff (44.52 ± 12.36) and the general public (43.08 ± 11.42). In terms of the need for psychological assistance, 50.97% of interviewees responded that they needed psychological counseling, of which medical staff accounted for 65.87% and non-medical staff accounted for 45.10%.Conclusion: During the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, great attention should be paid to the mental health of the population, especially medical staff, and measures such as psychological intervention should be actively carried out for reducing the psychosocial effects.

RETRACTED: The Association of COVID-19 Pandemic Stress With Health-Related Quality of Life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study

“…Similar high-stress levels in HCWs were reported in Korea (19.9) during MERS Cov epidemic ( 37 ), and in Hong Kong (18.0) during SARS outbreak ( 26 ). When compared to the general public, our study reveals significantly higher stress levels in healthcare workers ( Table 7 ), which is congruent to the findings by Chen et al ( 25 ). However; many researchers have failed to demonstrate a significant difference in the psychological impact of the epidemic on HCWs and the general population ( 24 , 33 ).…”

“…A similar study conducted in Colombia reported a 15% prevalence of high perceived stress during the current pandemic ( 23 ). Mean stress score in our study was 19.44 ( Table 4 ), which is higher than that found by Limcaoco et al (17.4) in their survey done in 41 countries ( 24 ), and by Chen et al in Wuhan and surrounding areas where mean PSS scores in the general population and healthcare workers were found to be 14.8 and 16.8, respectively ( 25 ). Earlier researchers have consistently reported high-stress levels during current and past epidemics ( 24 – 27 ).…”

Different Responses to Stress, Health Practices, and Self-Care during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Stratified Analysis

“…Our findings are in line with several studies conducted in Spain, Austria, and UK, which have found that this situation seems to have a higher impact on women and young people, particularly stressful for those <35 years, people without work, and low income [ 4 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

“…The scale has good reliability (internal consistency, α = 0.81), concurrent validity, sensitivity, and Cronbach’s alpha for this sample was α = 0.85 [ 18 ]. Studies have been published that report in relation to PSS-10, optimal psychometric properties, both in the general population and people exposed to confinement [ 19 , 20 ] and specifically in health professionals who attend the emergency situation [ 21 ].…”

Gender inequality in publishing during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…By the end of June 2020, more than 503,000 people had died of SARS-CoV2 ( WHO, 2020b ) and by four months later this figure was at 1.18 million globally, with more than 45 million infected ( WHO, 2020a ). In addition to these primary effects, secondary impacts are also being felt worldwide, such as on mental health, employment and education ( Chen et al, 2020 , Kim and Su, 2020 , Nicola et al, 2020 ). Notably, these secondary effects may be disproportionately affecting certain societal groups, including those from low socio-economic backgrounds and women ( Findlay et al, 2020 ; Ozdin and Bayrak Ozdin, 2020).…”