Changes in compliance to personal preventive measures and mental health status among Chinese factory workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: observational prospective cohort study (Preprint)

Abstract

Factory workers who resumed work during the pandemic is a sub-population of higher risk of COVID-19 infection than that of the general population. Maintaining good compliance with personal preventive measures during the pandemic plays an important role in achieving the balance between COVID-19 control and work resumption.

This observational prospective cohort study investigated the changes in compliance to personal preventive measures (i.e., facemask wearing, hand hygiene, household disinfection, avoiding social/meal gathering and avoiding crowed places), depressive symptoms and sleep quality among factory workers who resumed work within a 3-month follow-up period.

Inclusion criteria for this cohort study were the following: 1) full-time employees aged ≥18 years who had resumed work, and 2) willing to leave contacts (mobile or social media account) to complete the follow-up survey. A stratified two-stage cluster sampling design was used. We randomly selected 12 factories in Shenzhen. And all eligible employees in these factories were invite to complete two web-based surveys three months apart. A total of 1311 Chinese adult factory workers completed the baseline survey in March 2020, and 663 (50.6%) completed the follow-up survey three months later.

Significant decline was observed in consistent facemask wearing in workplace (from 98.0% at baseline to 90.3% at Month 3, P<.001) and in other public spaces (from 97.1% at baseline to 94.4% at Month 3, P=.02), sanitizing hands (from 70.9% at baseline to 48.0% at Month 3, P<.001), household disinfection (from 47.7% at baseline to 37.9% at Month 3, P<.001) and moderate-to-severe depression (from 6.0% at baseline to 0.6% at Month 3, P<.001) over the follow-up period. Significant improvement in avoiding crowed places (from 69.8% at baseline to 77.4% at Month 3, P=.002) and sleep quality (proportion of participants reporting poor sleeping quality dropped from 3.9% at baseline to 1.2% at Month 3, P=.002) was also observed.

There were significant decline in some personal preventive measures and significant improvement in mental health status among a cohort of Chinese factory workers who resumed work during COVID-19. Health promotion are needed to maintain good compliance to personal preventive measures. Psychological support for workers during work resumption is necessary.