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Cited by 582COVID-19 and Mental HealthEmployment and Welfare StudiesWorkplace Health and Well-being

Is returning to work during the COVID-19 pandemic stressful? A study on immediate mental health status and psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures of Chinese workforce

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Tan, Wanqiu, Hao, Fengyi, McIntyre, Roger S., Jiang, Li, Jiang, Xiaojiang, Zhang, Ling, Zhao, Xinling, Zou, Yiran +8 more·2020·Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
DOI 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.055PMC PMC7179503
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Abstract

This study aimed to quantify the immediate psychological effects and psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures of a workforce returning to work during the COVID-19 epidemic. Workforce returning to work was invited to complete an online questionnaire regarding their attitude toward the COVID-19 epidemic and return-to-work along with psychological parameters including the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale- 21 (DASS-21) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures include precautions at personal and organization levels. From 673 valid questionnaires, we found that 10.8% of respondents met the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after returning to work. The respondents reported a low prevalence of anxiety (3.8%), depression (3.7%), stress (1.5%) and insomnia (2.3%). There were no significant differences in the severity of psychiatric symptoms between workers/technicians and executives/managers. >95% reported psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures including good ventilation in the workplace and wore a face mask as protective. Factors that were associated with the severity of psychiatric symptoms in the workforce were marital status, presence of physical symptom, poor physical health and viewing return to work as a health hazard (p < 0.05). In contrast, personal psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures including hand hygiene and wearing face masks as well as organizational measures including significant improvement of workplace hygiene and concerns from the company were associated with less severe psychiatric symptoms (p < 0.05). Contrary to expectations, returning to work had not caused a high level of psychiatric symptoms in the workforce. The low prevalence of psychiatric symptoms could be due to confidence instilled by psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures before the resumption of work. Our findings would provide information for other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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  • No significant difference in any items was found between workers/technical staff and management/executive staff (all P>0.05).

    “One study found no significant difference in any items between workers/technical staff (n = 551) and management/executive staff (n = 122) (all P > 0.05) (Tan et al., 2020)”

    From COVID-19 pandemic and mental health consequences: Systematic review of the current evidence (2020) · cites this paper as Tan et al., 2020

    The Results section on immediate mental health status reports no significant differences between the groups in PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, stress or insomnia (p > 0.05). But “any items” and “all P > 0.05” overstate the finding: the Results also report a difference in worries about young children’s health (p = 0.028), and Table 4 reports differences in some prevention measures (p = 0.040 and 0.048). Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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  • COVID-19 can cause increased psychological symptoms such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety in patients.

    “Evidence suggests that this disease has psychological consequences on healthcare workers, students, psychiatric patients and general workers, especially for COVID-19 patients [4–13].”

    From Mindfulness-based online intervention on mental health and quality of life among COVID-19 patients in China: an intervention design (2021) · cites this paper as [8]

    The Results section reports PTSD-like symptoms, depression, and anxiety among Chinese workers returning to work during the pandemic, supporting the citing sentence’s reference to general workers. It does not establish increased symptoms caused by COVID-19 in infected patients; the Discussion says returning to work did not increase symptom prevalence relative to a comparison survey. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Authors
Tan, W., Hao, F., McIntyre, R. S., Jiang, L., Jiang, X., Zhang, L., Zhao, X., Zou, Y., Hu, Y., Luo, X., Zhang, Z., Lai, A., Ho, R., Tran, B., Ho, C., & Tam, W.
Affiliations
  • National University of Singapore (SG)
  • First People's Hospital of Chongqing (CN)
  • University Health Network (CA)
  • Army Medical University (CN)
  • Huaibei Normal University (CN)
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
Corresponding author
Ho, Roger
ORCID
Venue
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-07
Volume
87
Pages
84-92
ISSN
0889-1591 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.055
PMC
PMC7179503
OpenAlex
W3020153107
Cited by
582
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 136 · 2021: 192 · 2020: 153 · 2019: 1
FWCI
52.64
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Brain Behavior and Immunity (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Rare & Special e-Zone (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National University of Singapore
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Employment and Welfare Studies
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, return to work, workplace mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, stress, insomnia, workplace infection prevention, face masks, hand hygiene, workplace ventilation, workplace hygiene
MeSH terms
Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, Anxiety, China, Depression, Female, Health Status, Humans, Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Male, Masks, Mental Health, Pneumonia, Viral, Psychoneuroimmunology, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Ventilation, Workplace, Marital Status, Coronavirus Infections, Young Adult, Pandemics, Return to Work, Hand Hygiene

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