Mental condition and function of resilience among families of frontline medical workers during COVID-19: Potential influencing factors and mediating effect

BACKGROUND: Studying the role of psychological resilience in self-perceived stress and mental disorders among family members of medical workers can help us understand its importance in mental health care and guide us to develop psychological intervention strategies for family members of medical workers. METHODS: A total of 671 family members of medical workers were enrolled. Self-perceived stress, resilience, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were measured in our research. RESULTS: The prevalence of anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms among relatives of medical workers were 49.0 %, 12.2 %, and 20.3 % respectively during the COVID-19 epidemic. According to the Multivariate regression model, compared with family members of doctor, family members of nurse and medical technologists were more likely to report anxiety symptoms. Female members of medical staff were more likely to have PTSD symptoms than male counterparts; and family members of medical technologist appeared to less likely have PTSD symptoms than family members of either doctor or nurse. The mediation analysis confirmed that mental resilience mediated the relationship between self-perceived stress and anxiety symptoms. LIMITATIONS: Single cross-sectional study design without the follow-up comparative analysis, only self-reported measurements were adopted, and inadequate pre-set demographic variables. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, our study firstly demonstrated the risk of psychological distress present in the family members of medical providers during the COVID-19 epidemic. Meanwhile, our findings highlighted the importance of mental resilience in family members of frontline medical workers as it mediated the relationship between self-perceived stress and anxiety symptoms.