scholarly journals Psychological Responses and Information Seeking Behaviors Influence Anxiety of the Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mainland China: Survey Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changqing Zou ◽  
Weiyu Zhang ◽  
Kristin Sznajder ◽  
Fengzhi Yang ◽  
Yajing Jia ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world has induced in considerable adverse influence on the mental health of the public. Measurement of anxiety, psychological responses and information seeking behaviors is crucial to protect and improve the mental health of the public. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of anxiety and the associated factors among the public of mainland China during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS From February 10 to April 8, 2020, the cross-sectional survey with convenience sampling was carried out online in mainland China. Anxiety was measure by Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale (GAD-7). Psychological responses and information seeking behaviors were measured by self-developed questionnaire. Questionnaires were distributed to the public via the Wenjuanxing smart phone platform. Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the associated factors of anxiety. RESULTS During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of anxiety (GAD-7 score ≥7) among the public in China was 446/2484 (17.95%). Multivariable logistic regression showed that being fearful, being nervous, spending time consuming on the information about the COVID-19 pandemic increased anxiety. Conversely, being rational was associated less with anxiety. CONCLUSIONS High levels of anxiety among the public during the COVID-19 pandemic should be emphasized. Promotion of mental well-being should be provided to decrease the degree of anxiety.Governments and news media should take the responsibilities to control the sources and quality of health information in order to prompt positive psychological responses and healthy behaviors among the public. Future research on health of the public after prolonged anxiety from the COVID-19 pandemic is warranted.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dangui Zhang ◽  
Weixin Zhan ◽  
Chunwen Zheng ◽  
Jinsheng Zhang ◽  
Anqi Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Seeking online health information (OHI) has become a common practice globally. The information seekers could face health risks if they are not proficient in OHI literacy. The OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of Chinese college students, the largest proportion of college students in the world, are understudied. This study was aimed to describe OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of college students in Guangdong, China. Methods College students in the Guangdong province with OHI-seeking experience were invited via WeChat, QQ, and Sina Weibo using QR code posters and flyers for participation in this online anonymized questionnaire-based study. Data on demographics, OHI literacy, information resources, search approaches, and behaviors were collected. The relationship between perceived OHI literacy and high-risk behaviors was investigated by bivariate logistic regression analysis. Results Respondents were 1203 college students with a mean age of 20.6 years, females (60.2%), and undergraduates (97.2%). They sought health information via websites (20.3%), WeChat (2.6%), or both (77.1%). Baidu was the main search engine, and baike.baidu.com (80.3%), Zhihu.com (48.4%), and Zhidao.baidu.com (35.8%) were top three among 20 searched websites for information about self-care (80.7%), general health (79.5%), disease prevention (77.7%), self-medication (61.2%), family treatment (40.9%), drugs (37.7%), western medications (26.6%), hospitals (22.7%), physicians (21.4%), and Traditional Chinese Medicine (15.6%). Despite most respondents (78%) lacked confidence in the evidence quality and satisfaction with the results, only 32.4% further consulted doctors. Many (> 50%) would recommend the retrieved information to others. About 20% experienced hacking/Internet fraud. Cronbach’s alpha for the internal consistency of OHI literacy was 0.786. Bivariate logistic regression analysis showed that students who believed they can judge the evidence level of OHI were more likely to self-diagnose (OR = 2.2, 95%CI, 1.6–3.1) and look for drug usage (OR = 3.1, 95%CI, 1.9–5.0). Conclusions This study reveals Chinese college students’ heavy reliance on OHI to manage their own and others’ health without sufficient knowledge/skills to identify misinformation and disinformation. The apparent risky information-seeking behaviors of Chinese college students warrant the provision of regulated, accurate, and actionable health information; assurance of cybersecurity; and health information literacy promotion in colleges by concerned authorities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (6, Nov-Dic) ◽  
pp. 782-788
Author(s):  
Rosario Valdez-Santiago ◽  
Aremis Litai Villalobos-Hernández ◽  
Luz Arenas-Monreal ◽  
Karla Flores ◽  
Luciana Ramos-Lira

Objective. To analyze the prevalence of domestic violence in adult women during confinement derived from the Co­vid-19 pandemic and individual, familiar and communitarian associated factors. Materials and methods. A second­ary analysis was carried out the 2020 National Health and Nutrition Survey on Covid-19, with national representation. A logistic regression model adjusted for the variables of interest was performed. Results. The prevalence was 5.8%. The most reported acts were shouting, insults or threats (4.3%). Most of the women who reported some type of violence in the home had already experienced it before the confinement. Low levels of well-being (OR= 1.96, 95%CI: 1.28,2.99), and living in a home where job was lost due to contingency (OR= 1.96, 95%CI: 1.41,2.73) were associated factors. Conclusions. In care interventions, it is necessary to take into account factors that deepen the vulnerability of women, such as pre-existing violence and loss of employment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Samuel Debas Bayable ◽  
Seid Adem Ahmed ◽  
Girmay Fitiwi Lema ◽  
Debas Yaregal Melesse

Background. Spinal anesthesia is the most common anesthetic technique for cesarean delivery. Patient satisfaction is a subjective and complicated concept, involving physical, emotional, psychological, social, and cultural factors. Regular evaluation of maternal satisfaction related to anesthesia service is an important parameter to the required changes and expansion of high-quality care services. We aimed to assess maternal satisfaction and associated factors among parturients who underwent cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia. Methods. Institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2019. A total of 383 parturients were enrolled to assess maternal satisfaction using a 5-point Likert scale. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done. Variables of p value ≤0.2 in the bivariable analysis were a candidate for multivariable logistic regression. A p value <0.05 was considered as significantly associated with maternal satisfaction at 95% CI. Results. This study revealed that 315 (82.3%) of the parturients were satisfied. Single spinal prick attempts (AOR = 2.08, 95% CI = 1.05–4.11), successful spinal block (AOR = 7.17, 95% CI = 3.33–15.43), less incidence of postdural puncture headache (AOR = 2.36, 95% CI = 1.33–4.20), and prophylactic antiemetic use (AOR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.19–0.66) were positively associated with maternal satisfaction. Conclusions. The overall maternal satisfaction receiving spinal anesthesia was considerably low. Single spinal prink attempts, successful spinal block, and less incidence of postural puncture headache can increase maternal satisfaction. Therefore, effective perioperative management, skillful techniques, and using the small-gauge Quincke spinal needle (25–27 gauge) may increase the maternal satisfaction and quality of spinal anesthesia management.


Physicians who choose to serve in public sector mental healthcare settings and physicians-in-training assigned to public sector mental health clinics may not be fully prepared for the many roles of the public and community psychiatrist. This primer offers practical information and guidance to the psychiatrist called upon to serve in the roles of public-sector clinician, team member, advocate, administrator, and academician. Each chapter includes a concise description of these various roles and responsibilities and offers engaging examples of the public psychiatrist at work. The chapters also ask readers to thoughtfully consider case-based problems typical of those faced by the public psychiatrist. Each chapter also features works of art and literature, usually from the public domain. Medical humanities help physicians keep sight of the lived experiences of public-sector patients; this includes not only the pain and suffering endured by them due to both the medical disorders with which they live and the disparities they endure in health, educational and occupational outcomes, but also their resilience while facing so many challenges. Medical humanities also serve to reinforce the physician’s individual and collective will to address the disparities endured by our patients. There are several very comprehensive textbooks available that examine community psychiatry broadly. By contrast, this work is a concise guide for the resident and early-career psychiatrist to the many roles he or she might be asked to provide in a public-sector mental health setting. Our hope is that the primer provides a level of support to psychiatrists that fosters their desire, individually and collectively, to serve the poor and the marginalized with grit and determination, and to broadly consider their potential to improve not only patient well-being but also these patients’ incorporation into their communities.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
M. Saberian ◽  
S. Hajiaghajani ◽  
R. Ghorbani ◽  
B. Behnam

Background:The mission of every University is to educate professionals to improve the quality of well being of body and mind of the society's members. To approach this important issue, Universities needs healthy employee to enable them to educate healthy qualified and well trained. This study was aimed to evaluate the status of mental health of Semnan University of medical sciences employees.Material and methods:This is a descriptive- analytical performed in a cross- sectional study. Samples were 414 employee. data were collected trough a self - reporting questionnaire (GHQ-28). Data were analyzed by spss and also mean, standard deviation, absolute & relative frequency were detected. Chi-square, Pearson & Spearman correlation coefficient at the level of 5% and logistic regression analysis was used for analysis.Findings:Total of 28.6% suffers from mental disorder. The most were working in treatment setting (41%). People aged 40-49 were 29.3 %, women were 37.4%, University undergraduate 40.7%, not married single 60%, 20 or more year work experienced 35.2%, had the most prominent mental disorder. Interpretation logistic regression showed that index of gender, level of education, and occupation has significant influence over mental disorder.Conclusion:The degree of mental disorder is 2.5 more than the statistics reported by WHO, but is similar with those reported in Iran. More investigation needs to better understanding the higher prevalence of mental disorder among women, university undergraduate, government employee and those working in treatment setting. The result of these studies can lead to find solution to resolve this problem.


Physicians who choose to serve in public sector mental healthcare settings and physicians-in-training assigned to public sector mental health clinics may not be fully prepared for the many roles of the public and community psychiatrist. This primer offers practical information and guidance to the psychiatrist called upon to serve in the roles of public-sector clinician, team member, advocate, administrator, and academician. Each chapter includes a concise description of these various roles and responsibilities and offers engaging examples of the public psychiatrist at work. The chapters also ask readers to thoughtfully consider case-based problems typical of those faced by the public psychiatrist. Each chapter also features works of art and literature, usually from the public domain. Medical humanities help physicians keep sight of the lived experiences of public-sector patients; this includes not only the pain and suffering endured by them due to both the medical disorders with which they live and the disparities they endure in health, educational and occupational outcomes, but also their resilience while facing so many challenges. Medical humanities also serve to reinforce the physician’s individual and collective will to address the disparities endured by our patients. There are several very comprehensive textbooks available that examine community psychiatry broadly. By contrast, this work is a concise guide for the resident and early-career psychiatrist to the many roles he or she might be asked to provide in a public-sector mental health setting. Our hope is that the primer provides a level of support to psychiatrists that fosters their desire, individually and collectively, to serve the poor and the marginalized with grit and determination, and to broadly consider their potential to improve not only patient well-being but also these patients’ incorporation into their communities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S55-S63
Author(s):  
Zan Li ◽  
Junming Dai ◽  
Ning Wu ◽  
Junling Gao ◽  
Hua Fu

Abstract Background Migrant workers worldwide commonly are susceptible to mental disorders. Since the 1980s, there has been a large-scale increase in the number of migrant workers in China; this development parallels the acceleration of socio-economic transformation. Studies addressing this population rarely focus on workers’ mental health or psychological well-being, yet it is imperative to understand the mental health status of rural-to-urban migrant workers and study the relationship between migration and mental health. Methods A cross-sectional survey of 3286 participants (response rate 85.4%) was conducted among different work units in Shanghai. All of the variables of this survey were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire, with depression measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale and poor mental health (PMH) measured by the World Health Organization 5-Item Well-Being Index (WHO-5) scale. Pearson’s χ2 test and logistic regression were used to compare migrants with urbanites, and to identify factors related to mental health outcomes. Results Migrant workers (15.3%) had a slightly higher prevalence of depression than non-migrant (12.0%) workers, with notable PMH (26.9%) among participants >45 y of age. In the logistic regression models, those who reported low job satisfaction, unhealthy organizations, poor physical health (self-rated) and long working hours were 2.86 (95% CI 2.14 to 3.84), 1.42 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.91), 1.89 (95% CI 1.41 to 2.55) and 1.48 (95% CI 1.08 to 2.03) times more likely to have depression, respectively. Similarly, workers >45 y of age were 2.92 (95% CI 1.65 to 5.16) and 1.80 (95% CI 1.01 to 3.21) times more likely to have PMH for low job satisfaction and unhealthy organizations, respectively. Conclusions There are numerous potential causes affecting the mental health of Chinese internal migrant workers. Strengthening the construction of healthy organizations and enhancing workers’ job satisfaction may improve the mental health status or psychological well-being of this group.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Getachew Tesfaw Desalegn ◽  
Mesele Wondie ◽  
Saron Dereje ◽  
Adanech Addisu

Abstract Background Suicidal ideation and attempt are highly prevalent among medical students compared to the general population and negatively impacts the quality of life, physical, and mental well being of students. However, research into suicidal ideation and attempt among medical students in low and middle-income countries are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the suicide ideation and attempt and associated factors among medical students in Ethiopia.Methods An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June 2019 at the University of Gondar among medical students. A simple random sampling technique used to get study units by their identification card. Suicide ideation and attempt were assessed by using World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) to assess suicide ideation and attempt. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify associated factors between suicidal ideation and attempt with the explanatory variables at p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt among study participants was found to be 14% and 7.4% with 95% CI (10.9, 18.1) and (5.1, 10.2), respectively. In multivariate logistic regression; female sex (AOR: 5.21, 95% CI: 2.42, 11.20), depression (AOR: 10.12, 95% CI; 4.80, 21.52), current khat chewing (AOR: 4.46, 95% CI; 132, 15.02), and poor social support (AOR: 4.46, 95% CI: 1.43, 13.87) were factors significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Being female (AOR: 8.08, 95% CI: 3.04, 21.39), depression (AOR: 10.66, 95% CI; 4.01, 28.01 ) and history of mental illness (AOR: 5.53, 95% CI; 1.20, 25.50) were factors significantly associated with suicidal attempt.Conclusion In the current study, the prevalence of suicidal ideation among medical students was low compared to other studies, but the suicidal attempt was high. The University of Gondar better to instate a screening program for every medical student for early diagnosis and intervention of suicide ideation and attempt.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingyu Cui ◽  
Jingwei Lu ◽  
Yijia Weng ◽  
Grace Y. Yi ◽  
Wenqing He

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant influence on the public mental health in a stealthy manner. Current efforts focus on alleviating the impacts of the disease on public health and economy, with the psychological effects due to COVID-19 largely ignored. In this paper, we analyze a mental health related dataset from the US to enhance our understanding of human reactions to the pandemic. We are particularly interested in providing quantitative characterization of the pandemic impact on the public mental health, on top of qualitative explorations. We employ the multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE) method to deal with missing values and take the logistic regression with least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) method to identify risk factors for mental health. The analyses are conducted to a large scale of online survey data from 12 consecutive weeks, so that the longitudinal trend of the risk factors can be investigated. Our analysis results unveil evidence-based findings to identify the groups who are psychologically vulnerable to COVID-19. This study is useful to assist healthcare providers and policy makers to take steps for mitigating the pandemic effects on public mental health.


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