Mental health problems of front-line medical staff in the early stage of public health emergencies

Dong-Bao Wang; Jin-Bo Jiang; Hai-Jun Zhang; Di Wu; Ya-Hong Zhang; Long-Biao Cui; Jian Zhang; Xiao-Hui Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1377815

Mental health problems of front-line medical staff in the early stage of public health emergencies

Front Psychiatry. 2024 Apr 26:15:1377815. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1377815. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Dong-Bao Wang^{1

2}, Jin-Bo Jiang³, Hai-Jun Zhang¹, Di Wu⁴, Ya-Hong Zhang⁵, Long-Biao Cui^{1

6}, Jian Zhang^{2

7}, Xiao-Hui Wang⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Xijing 986 Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
² Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
³ Department of Psychiatry, 93307 Military Hospital, Shenyang, China.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Xi'an Gaoxin Hospital, Xi'an, China.
⁶ Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinic Genetics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
⁷ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Xi'an People's Hospital (Xi'an No. 4 Hospital), Xi'an, China.
⁸ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Abstract

In the face of the unprecedented public health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, front-line health workers are under enormous mental pressure. This paper aims to explore the mental health challenges faced by front-line health workers in the early stages of a public health emergency, such as stress, anxiety, and depression. At the same time, the factors that increase their mental stress are analyzed, and practical measures are put forward to prevent and manage mental health problems, aiming at improving the quality of medical treatment during public health emergencies. This paper has some reference value for people engaged in mental health prevention.

Keywords: coping strategy; influencing factors; medical staff; mental health; public health.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This article was supported by the Fourth Military Medical University (2021JSTS30).