Background: The novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) has the novel coronavirus as its pathogen. At present, more than 30,000 medics from nationwide medical teams have supported Wuhan. However, some medical workers have been seriously infected in Wuhan and other parts of Hubei Province, with over 3,000 medical staff having been confirmed of infection. Therefore, it is necessary to analysis the emotional status of front-line medical staff and their influencing factors in dealing with the NCP so as to provide an objective basis for prevention and intervention measures.
Methods: This research aimed to shed light on the relation between the personality characteristics of front-line medical workers and their anxiety and depression, to provide the basis and reference for targeted mental health education and for relevant departments to formulate relevant policies. This study adopted a convenient sampling method and examined the psychological status of 150 front-line medical workers from Zhejiang Province with questionnaire surveys using the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scale.
Results: The participants had severe anxiety and depression; the top three items under the category of anxiety were genitourinary symptoms, behavior at interview, and respiratory symptoms, whereas the top three items under depression were feelings of guilt, weight loss, and retardation. Among all personal data, the following factors influenced anxiety, in decreasing order: degree of suspicion of being infected when showing associated symptoms, degree of fear of yourself and your family being infected, and the affiliated hospital (P <0.05). The first two factors similarly influenced depression (P <0.05).
Conclusion: The front-line medical staff were found to have serious anxiety and depression when dealing with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia, and have enormous psychological stress in the face of the growing number of confirmed cases and current absence of special treatment. Targeted mental health promotion work must be carried out to alleviate the psychological pressure of front-line medical staff and enhance their physical and mental health so that they can better contribute to the efforts against the current epidemic.