Department of Geography & Planning, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA.
North Carolina Institute of Climate Studies, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Public Health Rep. 2023 Mar-Apr;138(2):369-377. doi: 10.1177/00333549221148177. Epub 2023 Jan 26.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented stress on essential workers and their children. Limited cross-sectional research has found increases in mental health conditions from workload, reduced income, and isolation among essential workers. Less research has been conducted on children of essential workers. We examined trends in the crisis response of essential workers and their children from April 2020 through August 2021.
We investigated the impact during 3 periods of the pandemic on workers and their children using anonymized data from the Crisis Text Line on crisis help-seeking texts for thoughts of suicide or active suicidal ideation (desire, intent, capability, time frame), abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, unspecified), anxiety/stress, grief, depression, isolation, bullying, eating or body image, gender/sexual identity, self-harm, and substance use. We used generalized estimating equations to study the longitudinal change in crisis response across the later stages of the pandemic using adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for worker status and crisis outcomes.
Results demonstrated higher odds of crisis outcomes for thoughts of suicide (aOR = 1.06; 95% CI, 1.00-1.12) and suicide capability (aOR = 1.14; 95% CI, 1.02-1.27) among essential workers than among nonessential workers. Children of essential workers had higher odds of substance use than children of nonessential workers (aOR = 1.33; 95% CI, 1.08-1.65), particularly for Indigenous American children (aOR = 2.76; 95% CI, 1.35-5.36). Essential workers (aOR = 1.17; 95% CI, 1.07-1.27) and their children (aOR = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.07-1.30) had higher odds of grief than nonessential workers and their children.
Essential workers and their children had elevated crisis outcomes. Immediate and low-cost psychologically supportive interventions are needed to mitigate the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on these populations.
新冠疫情给一线工作者及其子女带来了前所未有的压力。有限的横断面研究发现，一线工作者因工作量、收入减少和隔离而导致心理健康状况恶化。针对一线工作者子女的研究则较少。本研究旨在调查 2020 年 4 月至 2021 年 8 月期间一线工作者及其子女的危机应对趋势。
我们使用匿名的危机短信热线数据，调查了疫情期间 3 个阶段中工作者及其子女的影响，研究内容包括自杀或自杀意念（欲望、意图、能力、时间框架）、虐待（情感、身体、性、未特指）、焦虑/压力、悲伤、抑郁、孤立、欺凌、饮食或身体形象、性别/性身份、自残和物质使用的危机求助短信。我们使用广义估计方程研究了在疫情后期阶段，通过工人身份和危机结果的调整优势比（aOR），对危机应对的纵向变化。
研究结果表明，与非一线工作者相比，一线工作者自杀意念（aOR = 1.06；95%CI，1.00-1.12）和自杀能力（aOR = 1.14；95%CI，1.02-1.27）的危机结果更高。一线工作者子女比非一线工作者子女更有可能使用物质（aOR = 1.33；95%CI，1.08-1.65），尤其是美洲原住民子女（aOR = 2.76；95%CI，1.35-5.36）。一线工作者（aOR = 1.17；95%CI，1.07-1.27）及其子女（aOR = 1.18；95%CI，1.07-1.30）比非一线工作者及其子女更有可能悲伤。
一线工作者及其子女的危机结果更高。需要立即采取低成本的心理支持干预措施，以减轻新冠疫情对这些人群心理健康的影响。
