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Cited by 40COVID-19 and Mental HealthMental Health Treatment and AccessOccupational Health and Burnout

Mental Health Help-Seeking and Associated Factors Among Public Health Workers during the COVID-19 Outbreak in China

Open access
She, Rui, Wang, Xiaohui, Zhang, Zhoubin, Li, Jinghua, Xu, Jingdong, You, Hua, Li, Yan, Liang, Yuan +9 more·2021·Frontiers in Public Health
DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2021.622677PMC PMC8144452
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Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak in China has created multiple stressors that threaten individuals' mental health, especially among public health workers (PHW) who are devoted to COVID-19 control and prevention work. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of mental help-seeking and associated factors among PHW using Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use (BMHSU). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 9,475 PHW in five provinces across China between February 18 and March 1, 2020. The subsample data of those who reported probable mental health problems were analyzed for this report (n = 3,417). Logistic and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations of predisposing, enabling, need, and COVID-19 contextual factors with mental health help-seeking. Results: Only 12.7% of PHW reported professional mental help-seeking during the COVID-19 outbreak. PHW who were older, had more days of overnight work, received psychological training, perceived a higher level of support from the society, had depression and anxiety were more likely to report mental help-seeking (ORm range: 1.02–1.73, all p < 0.05) while those worked in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were less likely to seek help (ORm = 0.57, p < 0.01). The belief that mental health issues were not the priority (64.4%), lack of time (56.4%), and shortage of psychologists (32.7%) were the most frequently endorsed reasons for not seeking help. Conclusions: The application of BMHSU confirmed associations between some factors and PHW's mental health help-seeking. Effective interventions are warranted to promote mental health help-seeking of PHW to ameliorate the negative impact of mental illness and facilitate personal recovery and routine work.

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  • A previous study suggested that psychological training on emotional regulation and positive coping with COVID-19 was positively associated with mental health help-seeking among HCWs during the pandemic.

    “A previous study suggested that psychological training on emotional regulation and positive coping with COVID-19 was positively associated with mental health help-seeking among HCWs during the pandemic [45].”

    From Associations between COVID-19 Work-Related Stressors and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Chinese Doctors and Nurses: Application of Stress-Coping Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [45]

    The Discussion reports that psychological training about coping with COVID-19 was positively associated with mental health help-seeking, including in the final hierarchical model. The Measurements section describes training only as training on how to cope with the outbreak; it does not specify emotional regulation or positive coping. The study population was public health workers, narrower than HCWs generally. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Authors
She, R., Wang, X., Zhang, Z., Li, J., Xu, J., You, H., Li, Y., Liang, Y., Li, S., Ma, L., Wang, X., Chen, X., Zhou, P., Lau, J., Hao, Y., Zhou, H., & Gu, J.
Affiliations
  • Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
  • Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
  • Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
  • Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
  • Nanjing Medical University (CN)
  • Huazhong University of Science and Technology (CN)
  • Sichuan University (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Zhou, Huan
  • Gu, Jing
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Public Health
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2021-05-11
Volume
9
Pages
622677-622677
ISSN
2296-2565 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpubh.2021.622677
PMC
PMC8144452
OpenAlex
W3163552566
Cited by
40
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 2
FWCI
4.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lanzhou University Institutional Repository (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Greater South Information System
Funders
National Major Science and Technology Projects of China
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
Keywords
mental health help-seeking, public health workforce, COVID-19 outbreak, Andersen Behavioral Model of Health Services Use, help-seeking barriers, depression, anxiety, mental training, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, occupational stress, access to mental health care
MeSH terms
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, China, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Disease Outbreaks, Humans, Mental Health, Public Health, United States

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