Social Support Protects Chinese Medical Staff from Suffering Psychological Symptoms in COVID-19 Defense

Abstract

Background: At the very beginning of the epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) in China, not only the public but also the medical staff were confronting with psychological challenging and suffering for the highly infectious and unknown characteristics of the disease. In this study, we surveyed the psychological symptoms like anxiety, depression, and sleep disorder for medical staff. Method: A questionnaire star/ WeChat link-based survey of GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, GAD-7), PHQ-9(Patient Health Questionnaire-9) depression, ISI (Insomnia Severity Index) scales, Social Support Scales besides lifestyle, and income level were conducted and checked for 8288 medical staff from almost 24 provinces in China. Paired T-test and T test was used for the evaluation of single risk factors and significant difference of psychological symptoms before and during the defense. Biliary Logistic regression analyses was conducted for the risk factors of anxiety, depression, and sleep disorder symptoms. Result: The doctors and nurses had more psychological symptoms during the defense against the epidemic compared with before the defense. Female, nurses, lack of social support were risk factors for psychological symptoms. Social support, including objective support, subjective support, and utility of support, were all lower in the anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders affected doctors and nurses. Conclusion: The susceptibility of psychological symptoms of medical staff could be eased by enhancing social support during the CIVOD-19 defense. Funding Statement: This work was supported in part by grants from the Fund of National Natural Science Foundation (No. 81973018). The funding supported the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. This study was supported by multicenter and multi department cooperation. Declaration of Interests: All of the authors declare no conflict of competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: The Research Ethics Committee of Hainan General Hospital approved the study protocol. Participants indicated their agreement to participate in the study via the electronic informed consent included in the survey.