Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychotraumatology, Bundeswehr Hospital Berlin, Scharnhorststr. 13, 10115 Berlin, Germany,
Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Sep;33(Suppl 10):132-136.
Exposure to patients with COVID-19 can have a significant impact on mental health of hospital medical staff. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of proximity to patients with COVID-19 considering occupational position and gender on the mental health of hospital staff.
N=78 participants were included in the study, with n=40 of them with direct contact to patients with COVID-19 (51%); eight had contact with patients suspected of having COVID-19 (10%), and n=30 with no direct contact to people with COVID-19 (39%).
Multinomial regression analyses showed that proximity had a negative (inverse) influence on avoidance behaviour as part of PTSD, physical symptoms, somatization, compulsiveness and anger expression-in as tendency to suppress anger. In addition, there was a significant impact of the female gender on increased physical symptoms, while age, work experience and occupation had no further influence.
These results that hospital medical staff is less psychologically stressed when closer to COVID-19 patients are inconsistent with previous studies. Self-efficacy and locus of control in these situations are relevant for processing the trauma. In summary, perception of personal risk is essential. Proximity is believed to be a proxy variable for personal risk perception. As a synopsis of these results, regular briefings of the hospital staff are recommended to prevent psychological impairment. They should contain specific information about conditions in the affected wards and the risk of infection, which could help reduce risk perception of medical personnel.
接触 COVID-19 患者会对医院医务人员的心理健康产生重大影响。本研究旨在探讨接触 COVID-19 患者的接近程度，考虑职业和性别对医院工作人员心理健康的影响。
本研究共纳入 78 名参与者，其中 n=40 名与 COVID-19 患者有直接接触（51%）；n=8 名与疑似 COVID-19 患者有接触（10%），n=30 名与 COVID-19 患者无直接接触（39%）。
多项回归分析表明，接近程度对 PTSD 的回避行为、身体症状、躯体化、强迫和愤怒表达倾向（即抑制愤怒）有负面影响。此外，女性性别对身体症状的增加有显著影响，而年龄、工作经验和职业没有进一步影响。
这些结果表明，与之前的研究相反，与 COVID-19 患者接近的医院医务人员心理压力较小。在这些情况下，自我效能感和控制源对于处理创伤很重要。总之，对个人风险的感知是至关重要的。接近程度被认为是个人风险感知的代理变量。作为这些结果的总结，建议定期对医院工作人员进行简短的简报，以防止心理受损。这些简报应包含有关受影响病房条件和感染风险的具体信息，这有助于降低医务人员的风险感知。
