Religion and the Mediating Role of Alexithymia in the Mental Distress of Healthcare Workers During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in a Psychiatric Hospital in China

Fushuai Zhao; Hsuan Lung; Po-Fei Chen; Mei-Chung Chang; For-Wey Lung

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.837916

Religion and the Mediating Role of Alexithymia in the Mental Distress of Healthcare Workers During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in a Psychiatric Hospital in China

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Apr 25:13:837916. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.837916. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Fushuai Zhao¹, Hsuan Lung², Po-Fei Chen³, Mei-Chung Chang⁴, For-Wey Lung^{5

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Affiliations

¹ Anning Psychiatric Rehabilitation Hospital, Changchun Sixth Hospital, Changchun City, China.
² Department of Dentistry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
³ Department of Psychology, Calo Psychiatric Center, Pingtung, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Nursing, Calo Psychiatric Center, Pingtung, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Calo Psychiatric Center, Pingtung, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ International Graduate Program of Education and Human Development, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁸ Institute of Education, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Abstract

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has created unprecedented challenges to the healthcare system, religion, and alexithymic trait that impacts the psychological resilience of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the role religion and alexithymia play in mental distress and the level of happiness of psychiatric hospital healthcare workers in China amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, whether symptom dimensions (anxiety, depression, hostility, inferiority, and insomnia) are associated with the level of happiness, and a 6-month follow-up was also investigated. A total of one-hundred and ninety healthcare workers were recruited from a psychiatric hospital in Jilin, China, and 122 were followed up after 6 months. All participants filled out the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, five-item Brief-Symptom Rating Scale, and the Chinese Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. The mental distress of healthcare workers decreased from 2.6 to 1.5% in 6-months. Religious belief was not associated with the mental distress or happiness of healthcare workers. Instead, for those whose anxiety decreased over 6 months, their social adaptation status increased. For those whose inferiority level decreased over time, their perceived level of psychological well-being and overall happiness increased. In over half a century of living in different societies, religion stabilizes the mental health of those in Taiwan amidst the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, but not in China. However, both regions found healthcare workers with alexithymic traits experienced a higher level of mental distress, implying that the collectivist culture of Confucian philosophy continues to influence the emotional expression and alexithymic traits of healthcare workers in China and Taiwan. To ensure a healthy and robust clinical workforce in the treatment and control of the pandemic, the cultural impact on the psychological resilience of medical workers needs to be addressed.

Keywords: alexithymia; coronavirus disease 2019; healthcare worker; mental distress; religion.