Mental health status and psychological intervention needs in community health service staff during the outbreak of COVID-19 / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the mental health status and psychological intervention needs in community health service staff during the outbreak of COVID-19.Methods:From February 28 to March 2, 2020, a total of 554 questionnaires on the mental health status and psychological intervention needs were collected from community health service staff in Beijing, Zhejiang, Hebei and Shanghai. The mental health was assessed by physical symptoms and GAD-7. The status and effectiveness of psychological intervention was analyzed.Results:The survey found that 19.7% (109/554) of community health service staff needed psychological support. Most psychological supports were received from colleagues′ encouragement (59.6%, 330/554) and internet mental health knowledge (41.2%, 228/554); in contrast, less from group intervention (5.8%, 32/554) and one-on-one counseling (5.6%, 31/554). Higher proportion of staff with anxiety symptoms and physical symptoms needed psychological support than that without symptoms (χ 2=53.41, 71.47), and a higher proportion of responders thought that the existing psychological intervention was not helpful (χ 2=26.89, 17.79), the difference is statistically significant ( P<0.05). Conclusion:It is necessary to strengthen the mental health assessment of community health service staff and give effective psychological intervention according to their needs during the outbreak of COVID-19.