Mental Health Status of Healthcare Workers in China for COVID-19 Epidemic

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 first appeared in China in December 2019, with a high rate of infectivity and morbidity, which brought tremendous psychological pressure to healthcare workers. PURPOSE: To understand the psychological health status of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak and decline, and to provide a theoretical reference for the future establishment of a psychological crisis intervention system. METHODS: Healthcare workers were recruited using convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods, and the electronic version of the SCL-90 scale and a sociodemographic questionnaire were administered. In the pretest, a total of 5018 responses were collected; after six weeks, random sampling was performed. The SCL-90 and measures of other epidemic-related problems were administered, with 1570 responses received; then, the final data analysis was performed. RESULTS: After six weeks, the post-test GSI score; SCL-90 total score; and PST, PSDI, O-C, I-S, DEP, ANX, PHOB, PAR, PSY, and HOS scores were significantly lower than the corresponding pretest scores (p < 0.05). The results by occupational category showed that the scores of nursing staff decreased significantly for 12 indexes and that the scores of the doctors and other hospital staff also significantly decreased. There was a significant difference between the pretest (50.78 ± 28.18) and post-test (45.00 ± 28.49) scores for the degree of worry about the epidemic. Healthcare workers believed that the top three aspects of life affected by the epidemic were economic problems (816 people), interpersonal communication problems (731 people), and mental health (728 people). CONCLUSION: Over the course of the epidemic, the item scores generally declined significantly. Therefore, during an outbreak period, attention should be paid to psychological crisis interventions for healthcare workers; problems caused by psychological pressure, and even other psychological conditions, can be significantly alleviated to reduce the probability of subsequent health problems.