Psychological status of Wuhan medical staff in fighting against COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the mental health conditions of Chinese medical staff in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei. Methods: We did a survey with SCL-90 in 112 frontline medical staff who were working in the period of COVID-19 outbreak. Results: There were significant differences in somatization, anxiety, and terror (P0.01), and had significant differences (P0.05) in obsession and psychosis between the frontline medical staff and the general population. There was significant difference only in somatization factor of medical staff between different genders (P0.05). The factors of somatization, anxiety, and psychotic had significant differences between the medical staff with a monthly household income 10 000 Yuan(RMB) and those with income ≥10 000 Yuan (P0.05), and interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, and paranoid factors also had significant differences between two different monthly household income groups (P0.01). Conclusion: The frontline medical staff had a lower level of psychological status, which is manifested by stronger somatization, anxiety, and horror of medical staff. The medical staff with different gender and different family income had different psychological status. We need to pay attention to the mental health of frontline medical staff in the epidemic, and provide guarantees to the medical staff to maintain a healthy working status. © 2020, Editorial Board of Medical Journal of Wuhan University. All right reserved.