Panic state and related influencing factors among military personnel during coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the panic state and related influencing factors among military personnel during the early epidemic stage of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods In the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic, 431 officers and soldiers stationed in Hebei were randomly selected by the cluster sampling method and investigated with psychological stress self-evaluation test (PSET), self-rating anxiety scale, and self-designed questionnaires regarding the knowledge of COVID-19, sources of psychological panic scale, evaluation scale of various information released and risk perception scale. Results A total of 411 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective rate of 95.36%. The results showed that 5.84% (24/411) of the officers and soldiers were in psychological stress state and 4.14% (17/411) in psychological panic state. The psychological panic score of officers and soldiers in psychological stress state (47.76±6.51) was significantly higher than that in non-stress state (32.95±10.94), and the difference was statistically significant (t＝106.01, P0.01). There were significant differences in their understanding of different dimensions of COVID-19 knowledge (χ2＝91.53, P0.01). The high proportions of lack of understanding were found for COVID-19 related research progress (22.87%, 94/411) and symptoms (20.92%, 86/411). The main sources of psychological panic were the highly infectious trait of the virus, all wearing masks and eye glasses, information from the Internet and so on. Among all kinds of released information, the numbers of cumulative confirmed cases, new confirmed cases and cumulative suspected cases were the concerned epidemic information. The age, degree of anxiety in risk perception, possibility of infection, level of psychological stress and knowledge regarding COVID-19 were the predictors of psychological panic among military personnel (P0.05 or P0.01). Among the dimensions of risk perception, the predictors for apprehension regarding COVID-19 among military personnel included the influence of COVID-19 on individuals and society and event characteristics of COVID-19 (P0.05 or P0.01). For the interventions of panic state, providing relevant medical knowledge was the most needed. Conclusion During the early stage of COVID-19 epidemic, factors such as risk perception and the sources of psychological panic can affect the psychological panic among military personnel. During the CVOID-19 epidemic, corresponding measures should be taken to prevent the psychological panic among the officers and soldiers.