Longitudinal study of mental health changes in residents affected by an initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, and the world continues to work to defeat it. We designed this study to understand the longitudinal change in the mental health of residents who experienced the initial disease outbreak in China and to explore the long-term influencing factors. Methods: The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Generalized Anxiety Scale (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were administered to the same sample four times: during the initial outbreak (T1), 1 month later (T2), 18 months later (T3), and 26 months later (T4). Results: A total of 397 participants completed all of the follow ups. The mean PSS scores among the four time points showed significant differences (F = 183.98, P < 0.001), with the highest score at T1 (15.35 ± 7.14), a sharp decline at T2 (11.27 ± 6.27), an obvious rebound at T3 (15.17 ± 7.46), and finally a slight decrease at T4 (14.41 ± 7.99). Among the four mean GAD-7 scores, significant differences were also found (F = 242.0, P < 0.001), with the trend that from T1 (7.42 ± 6.03) to T2 (7.35 ± 5.88), the scores remained steady, while they showed an apparent decline at T3 (5.00 ± 5.30) and no obvious change at T4 (4.91 ± 4.81). There were no significant differences among the mean PHQ-9 scores (F = 1.256, P < 0.284). The long-term influencing factors differed for stress, anxiety and depression, but all three were influenced by a history of psychosis at T4, quarantine status and whether the participants' family members were infected during the initial outbreak. Discussion: The survey revealed that repeated outbreaks in other areas also had an impact on those who experienced the initial outbreak, with a return of stress, a decline in anxiety, and no change in depression, which provides direction for interventions in the future.

Longitudinal study of mental health changes in residents affected by an initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, and the world continues to work to defeat it. We designed this study to understand the longitudinal change in the mental health of residents who experienced the initial disease outbreak in China and to explore the long-term influencing factors. Methods The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Generalized Anxiety Scale (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were administered to the same sample four times: during the initial outbreak (T1), 1 month later (T2), 18 months later (T3), and 26 months later (T4). Results A total of 397 participants completed all of the follow ups. The mean PSS scores among the four time points showed significant differences (F = 183.98, P < 0.001), with the highest score at T1 (15.35 ± 7.14), a sharp decline at T2 (11.27 ± 6.27), an obvious rebound at T3 (15.17 ± 7.46), and finally a slight decrease at T4 (14.41 ± 7.99). Among the four mean GAD-7 scores, significant differences were also found (F = 242.0, P < 0.001), with the trend that from T1 (7.42 ± 6.03) to T2 (7.35 ± 5.88), the scores remained steady, while they showed an apparent decline at T3 (5.00 ± 5.30) and no obvious change at T4 (4.91 ± 4.81). There were no significant differences among the mean PHQ-9 scores (F = 1.256, P < 0.284). The long-term influencing factors differed for stress, anxiety and depression, but all three were influenced by a history of psychosis at T4, quarantine status and whether the participants' family members were infected during the initial outbreak. Discussion The survey revealed that repeated outbreaks in other areas also had an impact on those who experienced the initial outbreak, with a return of stress, a decline in anxiety, and no change in depression, which provides direction for interventions in the future.

Psychosocial Factors Associated With Increased Adolescent Non-suicidal Self-Injury During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents hospitalized with psychiatric disorders continues to increase after the outbreak of COVID-19. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the pandemic and NSSI among adolescents and whether the composition of psychosocial factors related to NSSI has changed during the pandemic. Through the retrospective analysis of medical records retrieved from the electronic system of the psychiatric hospital located in Chengdu from January 2016 to March 2021, 609 medical records of adolescents were obtained. The main potential psychosocial factors were determined by deductive content analysis. Among the 609 adolescents, 420 subjects had engaged in NSSI, while 189 did not. We found that the percentage of adolescents who had engaged in NSSI in 2016 was only 29.2%, reaching 34.5% in 2017, 45.7% in 2018, 61.3% in 2019, 92.5% in 2020, and 95.9% in 2021. In the binary logistic regression model, female sex (OR = 0.073, 95% CI: 0.028-0.186), older age (OR = 1.234, 95% CI: 1.030-1.478), having a single parent (OR = 7.865, 95% CI: 3.997-15.476), having experienced trauma (OR = 2.192, 95% CI: 1.032-4.654), having experienced social isolation from peers (OR = 8.139, 95% CI: 4.037-16.408), having experienced body-focused bullying (OR = 3.078, 95% CI: 1.295-7.318), overuse of a mobile phone in the parents' opinions (OR = 4.354, 95% CI: 1.380-13.738), having attempted suicide (OR = 9.120, 95% CI: 4.492-18.512), and during the pandemic (time point is January 30, 2020) (OR = 5.399, 95% CI: 1.679-17.357) were the factors that were significantly associated with NSSI. When comparing the differences in psychosocial factors between the pre-pandemic and the during-pandemic groups, the results showed that the family constitution, parent-child relationships, mobile phone overuse, and stressful learning were important factors. Tailored interventions geared towards changed psychosocial factors should be formulated.

Investigation on the Influencing Factors of Mental Health of Healthcare Workers for Aid in Hubei during the Outbreak of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the factors that were related to the psychological health status of healthcare workers aid for Hubei after the COVID-19 outbreak. METHODS: A total of 1260 participants completed the Self-Rating Scale of Sleep (SRSS), the Generalized Anxiety Scale (GAD-7), and the 9-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) via the online questionnaires, and their related experiences with COVID-19 were collected. RESULTS: The average SRSS score of all participants (25.13 ± 6.41) indicated a mild sleep problem, and the factors that influenced their sleep were the respondent's gender, whether they had patients who died under their care, their history of psychosis and whether their family members were infected with COVID-19. The average GAD-7 score of all participants (12.37 ± 4.89) indicated a moderate anxiety level. The main factors that influenced anxiety were the respondent's gender, years of work, history of psychosis, self-perceived health status, and whether their family members were infected with COVID-19. The average PHQ-9 score of all participants (8.90 ± 5.42) indicated a mild depression level. The primary factors that influenced depression were whether the respondent had nursed/treated severely ill patients in Hubei and whether they had a history of psychosis. CONCLUSIONS: During the outbreak of COVID-19, the symptoms of anxiety were prominent among healthcare workers in Hubei. Moreover, male workers, those whose patients died during treatment, those with a history of anxiety disorders and those whose family members were infected with COVID-19 reported more serious problems. Therefore, this particular group of healthcare workers needs to be monitored and provided with tailored psychological support.

The qualitative analysis of characteristic of callers to a psychological hotline at the early stage of COVID-19 in China.

BACKGROUND: As the outbreak of COVID-19, traditional face-to-face psychological intervention are difficult to achieve, so hotline becomes available and recommended strategies. The callers' characteristic could help us to study their experiences of emotional distress, as well as the reasons for calling during the pandemic, which can be used to inform future service design and delivery. METHODS: The information of 1558 callers called our hospital' s hotline for help from February 3, 2020, to March 16, 2020 were collected in the form of Tick-box and Free text, and the inductive content analysis was undertaken focusing on the reasons for caller engagement. RESULTS: It was indicated that more than half of the callers are female (59.7%), mostly between the age of 18-59 (76.5%). The average age was 37.13 ± 13.76 years old. The average duration of a call to the hotline was 10.03 ± 9.84 min. The most frequent description emotional state were anxious (45.1%) and calm (30.3%), with the sub-sequence of scared (18.2%), sad (11.9%), and angry (6.9%). All callers displayed a wide range of reasons for calling, with needing support around their emotion (64.6%), seeking practical help (44.0%), and sleep problems (20.3%) constituting the majority of calls. Among the subthemes, 314 callers thought the epidemic has made them upset, 198 asked questions about the epidemic, and 119 reported their life routines were disrupted. The prevalence of key reasons does not appear to differ over time. Through their feedback, 79.1% agreed that they felt emotionally better after calling, and 95.0% agreed that hotline had helped them. CONCLUSIONS: During the epidemic, the most concern of the public is still related to epidemics and its adverse effects. Fortunately, the hotline can be an active and effective rescue measure after an emergency happened.