Geographical distance to the epicenter of Covid-19 predicts the burnout of the working population: Ripple effect or typhoon eye effect?

Stephen X Zhang; Hao Huang; Feng Wei

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112998

Geographical distance to the epicenter of Covid-19 predicts the burnout of the working population: Ripple effect or typhoon eye effect?

Psychiatry Res. 2020 Jun:288:112998. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112998. Epub 2020 Apr 14.

Authors

Stephen X Zhang¹, Hao Huang², Feng Wei³

Affiliations

¹ University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia. Electronic address: stephen.x.zhang@gmail.com.
² Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China. Electronic address: fizz-huang@qq.com.
³ Tongji University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: fwei@tongji.edu.cn.

Abstract

Covid-19 originated in Wuhan and rippled across China. We investigate how the geographical distance of working adults to the epicenter of Wuhan predicts their burnout - emotional, physical and mental exhaustion due to excessive and prolonged stress. Preliminary results of a survey of 308 working adults in 53 cities showed working adults' distance to the epicenter of Wuhan had an inverted U-shaped relationship with their burnout. Such results help to identify regions where people may need more psychiatric assistance, with direct implications for healthcare practitioners and policymakers.

Keywords: Burnout; Coronavirus; Distance to the epicenter; Epidemic; Pandemic; Ripple effect; SARS-CoV-2; Typhoon eye effect.

Publication types

Letter

MeSH terms

Adult
Betacoronavirus
Burnout, Psychological*
COVID-19
China / epidemiology
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology
Coronavirus Infections / psychology*
Female
Geography
Humans
Male
Occupations
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology
Pneumonia, Viral / psychology*
SARS-CoV-2
Young Adult