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

Yuchen Ying; Fanqian Kong; Binbin Zhu; Yunxin Ji; Zhongze Lou; Liemin Ruan

The present study provided evidence of a major mental health burden of family members of HCWs worked in designated hospitals during COVID-19 epidemic in Ningbo, China, particularly in participants with more times to focus on COVID-19, family members (that is, HCWs) directly contact with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients, family members (that is, HCWs) have longer average working times per week, and who were in non-spousal relationships with HCWs. On the contrary, participants' higher self-reported safety score for protective equipment of HCWs was a protective factor against psychological problems. Compared with participants who were HCWs, those who were enterprise workers were more likely to develop mental health problems, while who were government employees or institutions employees were less likely to report psychological response. In summary, we suggest that more attention should be paid on the mental health status of this vulnerable but often unseen populations in a infectious disease outbreak. In addition, our findings are important in enabling government to allocate health resources and offer appropriate treatments for family members of HCWs who suffer mental health problems during COVID-19 epidemic and any of the infectious disease outbreak in the future. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.