Investigation on mental health status of front-line anti-epidemic medical staff during the COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the mental health status of the front-line anti-epidemic medical staff during the COVID-19 outbreak, so as to provide references for the targeted psychological intervention and improvement of mental health status.

Methods

A total of 162 front-line medical staff who worked in Lanzhou Heavy Particles Hospital of Gansu Province from October to December 2021 were were enrolled, and assessed using self-designed general information questionnaire, Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS).

Results

A total of 144 medical staff completed the valid questionnaire survey, and 17 (11.81%) and 19 (13.19%) cases were found to have anxiety and depression, respectively. The detection rate of anxiety yielded statistical difference among medical staff with different anti-epidemic working hours (χ²=10.602, P<0.01), and the detection rate of depression demonstrated statistical differences among medical staff with different occupations, family history of depression and anti-epidemic working hours (χ²=5.486, 4.039, 7.526, P<0.05).

Conclusion

During the COVID-19 outbreak, front-line medical staff develop varying degrees of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, the detection rate of anxiety is relatively high among the staff with long anti-epidemic working hours, and the detection rate of depression is relatively high among the doctors, the staff with family history of depression and long anti-epidemic working hours.