The Deficient Psychological Status of Male Medical Staff in Designated Hospitals During the Early Stage of the COVID-19

Jian, Wei; Cai, Qing Yan; Yue, Suping; Han, Yuanyuan; He, Hui; Pan, Keliang; Zhou, You; Yao, Dezhong

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) is a new acute respiratory infectious disease, which has strong infectivity and general susceptibility. Medical staff participating in COVID-19 are facing enormous mental and psychological pressure. In the early stage of the outbreak, in order to control the epidemic, the COVID-19 designated hospital was established to receive suspected and confirmed patients. This study focused on the mental health status of medical staff in designated hospitals at the early stage of the epidemic. We aimed to provide better psychological assistance for medical staff in designated hospitals. Methods: This study was conducted by using symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) through network survey from Feb.4 2020 to Feb.25 2020. The mental health of medical staff in the COVID-19 designated hospital and non-designated hospital in Sichuan Province was investigated. Furthermore, the two-way ANOVA was used to evaluate the impact of the designated hospital and the non-designated hospital and gender on the mental health status of medical staff under the epidemic effect. Results: A total of 948 valid questionnaires were collected. 252 medical staff in designated hospitals completed the questionnaire, including 46 males and 206 females. A total of 696 questionnaires were completed by non-designated hospitals, including 124 males and 572 females. The designated hospital and non-designated hospital were divided into two groups. The group main effects analysis was used to analyze 10 factors of SCL90 in the two groups. The results showed that all factors of SCL90 of medical staff in designated hospitals were higher than those in non-designated hospitals. It includes somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostile, phobic, paranoia and psychotic factors. There were interaction effects among the factors of SCL90. The results of post examination showed that there was no gender difference among medical staff in non-designated hospitals. Among the medical staff in designated hospitals, the score of male is higher than that of female. Compared with non-designated hospitals, there are significant differences in interpersonal sensitivity, somatization, anxiety, psychotic, paranoia and the total score of SCL-90 between designated hospitals and non-designated hospitals. There was no significant difference in SCL-90 score between designated hospitals and non-designated hospitals. Conclusions: In the early stage of the outbreak of covid-19, the mental health status of male medical staff in designated hospitals needs more attention, especially in their emotion, interpersonal relationship and physical symptoms. The government should provide them with timely and feasible psychological intervention. Supported by the Project of Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (2020ZYD013).