COVID-19-Related Self-Stigma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Insomnia, and Smartphone Addiction Among Frontline Government Workers with COVID-19 Pandemic Control Duties

Po-Ching Huang; Ching-Hsia Hung; Guan-Wei Chen; Ciaran Cashin; Mark D Griffiths; Wen-Chi Yang; Hsiao-Wen Wang; Chung-Ying Lin; Nai-Ying Ko

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S383842

COVID-19-Related Self-Stigma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Insomnia, and Smartphone Addiction Among Frontline Government Workers with COVID-19 Pandemic Control Duties

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2022 Oct 18:15:3069-3080. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S383842. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Po-Ching Huang¹, Ching-Hsia Hung^{1

2}, Guan-Wei Chen³, Ciaran Cashin³, Mark D Griffiths⁴, Wen-Chi Yang^#^{5

6}, Hsiao-Wen Wang^#³, Chung-Ying Lin^#^{1

7

8

9}, Nai-Ying Ko¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
² Department of Physical Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
³ Department of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering, College of Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁴ International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK.
⁵ Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, E-DA Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁶ Faculty of School of Medicine, College of Medicine, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁷ Biostatistics Consulting Center, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁸ Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁹ Department of Public Health, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
¹⁰ Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: The duties related to COVID-19 control and prevention may have caused psychological stress for the individuals in charge (eg, frontline government workers) and have reportedly led to mental health issues, such as insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the prevalence of these COVID-19-related disorders and their associated factors remain unclear. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the prevalence rates of insomnia, PTSD, COVID-19-related self-stigma, and smartphone addiction, along with the identification of risk factors and protective factors for Taiwan frontline government workers with COVID-19 pandemic control duties.

Methods: The survey was carried out with 151 participants between September and October 2021. All participants completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (assessing fear of COVID-19), Self-Stigma Scale (assessing self-stigma during the COVID-19 pandemic), Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (assessing the risk of smartphone addiction), Insomnia Severity Index (assessing insomnia), Impacts of Event Scale-6 (assessing PTSD), and a self-designed set of questions assessing trait resilience.

Results: The results showed that the prevalence rate was 31.1% for insomnia and 33.8% for PTSD. Furthermore, service duration (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.86, 0.999) and trait resilience (AOR = 0.19; 95% CI = 0.08, 0.46) were protective factors and fear of COVID-19 (AOR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.02, 3.57) was a risk factor for insomnia. Fear of COVID-19 (AOR = 2.63; 95% CI = 1.35, 5.14), self-stigma (AOR = 3.62; 95% CI = 1.19, 11.02), and smartphone addiction (AOR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.001, 1.19) were risk factors, and trait resilience was a protective factor (AOR = 0.58; 95% CI = 0.29, 1.17) for PTSD.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrated a high prevalence of insomnia and PTSD. Risk-reducing strategies and protective factor promotion strategies are recommended to help reduce the symptoms of insomnia and PTSD among Taiwan frontline government workers.

Keywords: insomnia; mental health; post-traumatic stress disorder; smartphone addiction; village officer.

Grants and funding

This study was supported in part by a research grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST109-2327-B-006-005; MOST111-2321-B-006-009) and a research grant from the Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital Cross-Institutions Fund (110-swf-01).