Mental health status among family members of health care workers in Ningbo, China, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak: a cross-sectional study

  1. Yuchen Ying
  2. Liemin Ruan
  3. Fanqian Kong
  4. Binbin Zhu
  5. Yunxin Ji
  6. Zhongze Lou

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Abstract

Background

To date, the psychological impact of COVID-19 epidemic among family members of health care workers (HCWs) in China has been neglected. This cross-sectional study investigates the mental health status and related factors in families of HCWs employed in designated hospitals in Ningbo, China.

Methods

Family members of HCWs in five designated hospitals in Ningbo, China, were recruited in February, 2020 for this study. Demographic variables, COVID-19-related events in the lives of the participants, knowledge of COVID-19, and the working status of family members (that is, HCWs) were collected using online self-administered questionnaires. Mental health status was assessed using the Chinese versions of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the main factors associated with the mental health conditions.

Results

In total, 845 participants completed the questionnaires correctly (95.80% response rate). The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms were respectively 33.73% (95% CI: 30.53–36.92%) and 29.35% (95% CI: 26.27–32.43%) when a cut-off score of 5 was used for GAD-7 and PHQ-9. Risk factors for anxiety symptoms included more time (hours) spent thinking about the COVID-19, and whether or not family members (that is, HCWs) had direct contact with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients while high participants’ self-reported safety scores for HCW’s protective equipment was a protective factor. More time (hours) spent thinking about COVID-19, longer average working time per week worked by family members (that is, HCWs), and being parents and other next of kin of HCWs were risk factors for depressive symptoms. Compared to participants who were HCWs, participants who were private sector workers were more likely to develop depressive symptoms, while government or institutional employees were less likely to suffer from depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

Psychological responses to COVID-19 have been dramatic among family members of HCWs during the rising phase of the outbreak. Our findings provide strong evidence to examine and attend to the mental health of this population during the COVID-19 epidemic.

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  1. Version published to 10.1186/s12888-020-02784-w
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.03.13.20033290: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Ningbo First Hospital (approval number: 2020-R042) and registered with the registry website http://www.chictr.org (registration number: ChiCTR2000030697).
    Consent: Signed informed consent was obtained online from all participants.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical analysis were performed using SPSS 22.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL,USA).
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study has several limitations. First, because we performed a cross-sectional study, our results do not show a causal relationship. Second, in order to prevent potential COVID-19 infection, a web-based survey was conducted, and therefore the sampling of our study was voluntary, resulting in possible selection bias. Third, our sample is not highly representative as the respondents were all from Ningbo city.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.03.13.20033290v1 on medRxiv