Back to Search Start Over

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

Authors :
Xu Yang
Jia-Yong Zhu
Fu Li
Zhi-Tao Chen
Yu-Hang Wu
Qing-Xian Li
Hua Wang
Jie Xiong
Heng Zhang
Biao Chen
Source :
Current Psychology, Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.j.)
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.

Abstract

To assess the psychological effects of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on medical staff and the general public. 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 pandemic situation on the mental health of medical staff and general population in Wuhan and its surrounding areas. Among the 1493 questionnaires completed, 827 (55.39%) of these were men, and 422 (28.27%) of these were medical personnel. 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%. 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.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
19364733 and 10461310
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Current Psychology
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....0b95c6c9af4631d6609fe4e2f9ecabc4
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01109-0