Effect of Social Support on Anxiety of Medical Staff One Year after COVID-19 Outbreak: A Moderated Mediating Model

Abstract

Abstract One year after the outbreak of the COVID-19, medical staff are facing high anxiety due to multiple work stresses, while they are also receiving more social support than ever before. Social support has become a protective factor for health care workers' anxiety symptoms, but the exact mechanism of action is not yet known. Based on the buffering model, this study aims to explore the impact and mechanisms of action of health care workers' perception of social support (PSS) on anxiety symptoms in the context of the epidemic and to further explore how emotional sensation of risk(ESR) and resilience play their influence. To this end, this study measured 839 health care workers and 322 civil servants using an online questionnaire from 4 February to 1 March 2021. The results found that (1) PSS was significantly higher among healthcare workers than other civil servants; (2) PSS among healthcare workers negatively predicted anxiety symptoms; (3) ESR partially mediated the relationship between PSS and anxiety symptoms; (4) resilience moderated the first half of the pathway in the model of PSS through ESR on anxiety symptoms. The emotional perception of the epidemic in individuals with high resilience decreases significantly with the increase of PSS, while this change is not significant in individuals with low resilience.