More susceptible psychological status of front-line medical staff than temporary workers in China during a public health emergency: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Abstract Background Our study aimed to investigate the psychological status of medical staff and temporary workers during a public health emergency in China and analyze the relevant factors affecting the psychological symptoms. Methods A total of 380 participants were included in a cross-sectional online survey in a fangcang shelter hospital in Hangzhou, China, during a wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.The Psychological Questionnaires for Emergent Events of Public Health (PQEEPH) was applied to investigate psychological status of medical staff and temporary workers. Multiple linear regression models were built to analyze the relevant factors affecting the psychological symptoms. Results Of 380 participants, women accounted for a high proportion of medical staff, and the majority of temporary workers were men. Medical staff had higher psychological symptom scores in depression, fear, neurasthenia and hypochondria than temporary workers. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that higher risk perception and occupational exposure of medical staff were significantly related to worse psychological symptoms, and emergency management capacity was negatively correlated with psychological symptoms of medical staff. Conclusion Our findings indicated that medical staff experienced more serious psychological symptoms than temporary workers during public health emergency, and protecting medical staff from psychological disturbance would be of great importance to the development of medical system. Our study suggest that risk perception and protective actions should be actively improved to reduce information avoidance and develop positive psychological status, which provide scientific basis for developing psychological intervention measures when there is emergent event of public health in the future.