Symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and their relationship with the fear of COVID−19 and COVID−19 burden among health care workers after the full liberalization of COVID−19 prevention and control policy in China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Over the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an overwhelming impact on China’s hospital system and health care workers, which can lead to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Previous research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic had long-term adverse effects on the mental health of health care workers. Indeed, PTSD symptoms have emerged as one of the significant mental health issues for health care workers arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we conducted this cross-sectional survey to investigate the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in health care workers and its relationship with the fear of COVID-19 and the COVID-19 burden after the full liberalization of COVID-19 prevention and control policy in China. Methods This study was conducted three years after the global COVID-19 pandemic (January 15 to January 16, 2023). This study was conducted via the Wenjuanxing platform and used the Chinese versions of the scales PC-PTSD-5, COVID-19 Anxiety Scale (FCV-19S), Social Support Scale, COVID-19 Stress Scale, GAD-2, and PHQ-2. Results The prevalence of PTSD symptoms in health care workers was 24.3% (232/955). depression(P