Psychological status and correlated factors of primary medical staff during the COVID-19 outbreak in Hefei city, China

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the mental illness and correlated factors of primary medical staff during the COVID-19 outbreak in Hefei city, China. Methods: A total of 180 primary medical staff were randomly selected from seven com- munity hospitals in Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone as a study group. One hundred and eighty-two health people were recruited as the control group. The self- rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Psychological ques- tionnaire of public health emergencies were distributed to them for evaluation. Results: The score of SAS, SDS in study group was higher than that in control group [(35.57±10.39) vs (31.31±7.98); (44.16±8.46) vs (41.47±9.47)] (t=4.371, P< 0.001; t=2.849, P=0.005). The fear subscale and total score in the psychological questionnaire of sudden public health events were negatively correlated with age (r=-0.216, P=0.004; r=-0.154, P=0.039). Marriage was negatively correlated with depression subscales in psychological questionnaires of SAS, SDS and sudden public health events (r=-0.184, P=0.013; r=-0.298, P<0.001; r=-0.161, P=0.031; r=-0.147, P=0.049). Education level was positively correlated with the total score of a psychological questionnaire for sudden public health events (r=0.151, P=0.043); Logistic regression analysis showed that marital status was a protective factor of psychological abnormality. Conclusion: It is necessary to pay attention to the psychological status of primary medical staff, especially the young unmarried medical staff.