Examining the Relationship between Death Anxiety and Well-Being of Frontline Medical Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

To examine the well-being of medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a survey of 705 medical staff who were involved in anti-epidemic work in China from 20 February to 16 March 2020. The findings of the present study showed a “psychological typhoon eye” effect in which the medical staff in areas with a high contagion rate showed a significantly lower level of death anxiety than those in low-contagion regions. We also found a significant negative relationship between death anxiety and hedonic well-being, but there was no relationship between death anxiety and eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, the results revealed that a narcissistic personality moderates the relationships between death anxiety and the two types of well-being. For those who had higher narcissistic personality scores, death anxiety had no negative effect on their well-being. The findings of the present study can help us to better understand the life profiles of medical staff and can also provide some practical implications for understanding the life conditions of medical staff when facing a great health crisis.