Cited by 104COVID-19 and Mental HealthHealthcare professionals’ stress and burnoutMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum

The Prevalence of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, Sleep Problems, and Psychological Distress Among COVID-19 Frontline Healthcare Workers in Taiwan

Open access
Lu, Mei-Yun, Ahorsu, Daniel Kwasi, Kukreti, Shikha, Strong, Carol, Lin, Yi-Hsuan, Kuo, Yi-Jie, Chen, Yu-Pin, Lin, Chung-Ying +3 more·2021·Frontiers in Psychiatry

Abstract

The adverse effect of COVID-19 pandemic among individuals has been very disturbing especially among healthcare workers. This study aims to examine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, sleep problems, and psychological distress among COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers in Taiwan. Hence, a total of 500 frontline healthcare workers were recruited to participate in this cross-sectional study. They responded to measures on fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, PTSD, perceived stigma, and self-stigma. The results indicated a prevalence rate of 15.4% for PTSD symptoms, 44.6% for insomnia, 25.6% for depressive symptoms, 30.6% for anxiety symptoms, and 23.4% for stress among the participants. There were significantly positive interrelationships between all these variables. Anxiety symptoms and fear of COVID-19 predicted PTSD whereas symptoms of anxiety, fear of COVID-19, and stress predicted insomnia. The prevalence rates of the psychological problems reveal a worrying view of mental health challenges among Taiwanese frontline healthcare workers. Anxiety symptoms and fear of COVID-19 are the common predictive factors of PTSD and sleep problems suggesting that mental healthcare services for them may help prevent future occurrence of psychological problems by allaying fears of healthcare workers. Therefore, there should be mental healthcare services for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Crossref · 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.705657

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  • An increase in subthreshold PTSD was found across different populations and cultures, possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Such an increase in subthreshold PTSD was also found across different populations and cultures, which might be due to the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe [19–21].”

    From Effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for Chinese adults with PTSD symptoms: protocol for a randomised controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [21]

    The Results report PTSD symptoms in 15.4% of Taiwanese frontline healthcare workers, and the Discussion links those symptoms to fear of COVID-19. The paper does not establish an increase over time or examine PTSD across populations and cultures. In the Results, “subthreshold” describes insomnia, not PTSD; no page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Lu, M.-Y., Ahorsu, D. K., Kukreti, S., Strong, C., Lin, Y.-H., Kuo, Y.-J., Chen, Y.-P., Lin, C.-Y., Chen, P.-L., Ko, N.-Y., & Ko, W.-C.
Affiliations
  • National Cheng Kung University Hospital (TW)
  • Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
  • National Cheng Kung University (TW)
  • Wan Fang Hospital (TW)
Corresponding author
Lin, Chung-Ying
Venue
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Published
2021-07-12
Volume
12
Pages
705657-705657
ISSN
1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3178030818
Cited by
104
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 5
FWCI
14.84
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • PolyU Institutional Research Archive (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Ministry of Science and Technology
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, COVID-19 pandemic, frontline health workers, sleep disorders, insomnia, psychological distress, anxiety, depression, stress, fear of COVID-19, perceived stigma, self-stigma, mental health of healthcare workers, Taiwan

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