Psychological status and correlation between anxiety and science literacy of medical staff under the public health emergency

Abstract

BackgroundIn public health emergencies， medical staff undertake many important tasks. Having a good mental health status and capability in popularization of science can improve the work efficiency of medical staff， and thus enhancing the public's trust and support for medical care.ObjectiveTo investigated the anxiety， insomnia and security level of medical staff under the public health emergency， and to explore the correlation between anxiety and capability in popularization of science of them.MethodsFrom June 1 to September 1， 2020， a total of 588 medical staff in Sichuan Province were investigated through the Questionnaire Star platform. The survey included a self-designed general information questionnaire， the Psychological Security-Insecurity Questionnaire （S-I）， Self-rating Anxiety Scale （SAS）， Athens Insomnia Scale （AIS） and science popularization questionnaire during the COVID-19 epidemic. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation among SAS， S-I and AIS scores， as well as the correlation between SAS and the science popularization questionnaire during the COVID-19 epidemic.ResultsDuring the public health emergency， the S-I score of the medical staff was （27.46±9.20）， with 21 cases （3.57%） having a low level of security. The SAS score was （44.21±9.57）， with 208 cases （35.37%） having anxiety symptoms. The AIS score was （11.40±5.25）， with 450 cases （76.53%） suffering from insomnia. Correlation analysis showed that SAS score was negatively correlated with S-I score （r=-0.640， P<0.01）， while positively correlated with AIS score （r=0.618， P<0.01）. There was a negative correlation between the degree of usage about medical staff's science popularization tool and SAS score （r=-0.501~-0.185， P<0.01）. The use of science popularization channels was negatively correlated with anxiety （r=-0.510~-0.232， P<0.05 or 0.01）. There was a negative correlation between the level of trust to popularization of science and medical staff anxiety （r=-0.548~-0.338， P<0.01）.ConclusionUnder the public health emergency， the detection rates of anxiety symptoms and sleep disorders among medical staff are high， and anxiety is negatively correlated with medical staff's capability in popularization of science. ［Funded by Sichuan Mianyang Psychological Growth Guidance and Research Center for Minors Funded Project （number， SCWCN2020YB11）］.

Keywords

• public health emergency
• medical staff
• anxiety
• sense of security
• insomnia
• science popularization