Latent class analysis of post-traumatic disorder and post-traumatic growth among front-line healthcare professionals during the early outbreak of COVID-19.

The pandemic is a major public health crisis, which may bring post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as post-traumatic growth (PTG) to healthcare professionals. The current study aimed to assess coexistence patterns of PTSD and PTG among healthcare workers during the first outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). It also explored whether social support and self-disclosure could predict group membership. The questionnaire survey was conducted among Chinese front-line healthcare workers three months after the first outbreak of COVID-19, and 500 valid responses were obtained. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to analyze the data, and logistic regression was used to examine the predicting effect of social support and self-disclosure. Four latent classes were identified: low PTSD/high PTG (Class 1, 53.2%), moderate PTSD/high PTG (Class 2, 28.0%), moderate PTSD/moderate PTG (Class 3, 6.4%), and high PTSD/high PTG (Class 4, 12.4%). None of the demographic information predicted the membership. Members with "low PTSD/high PTG" were associated with high social support and high self-disclosure of distress. Meanwhile, social support and self-disclosure differentiated those with the same moderate level of PTSD but showed higher or lower PTG. The results of this study confirmed that PTSD and PTG coexist among frontline healthcare workers, and PTG is prominent among them. Social support and self-disclosure are protective factors for low-stress and high-growth combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]