Psychological effects of COVID-19 on hospital staff: A national cross-sectional survey in mainland China
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: This study examined the psychological impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) outbreak on medical staff in China. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In February 2020, an online survey was carried out by using an online survey tool (WeChat) to evaluate the effects of the outbreak on the mental health of medical staff in China. RESULTS: A total of 11,118 medical staff responded to the survey. About 4.98% of the respondents reported middle and high levels of anxiety, while 13.47% of the respondents reported middle and high levels of depression since the COVID-19 outbreak. Nurses, frontline medical staff, and younger medical staff were more likely to have anxiety and depression than physicians, nonfrontline medical staff, and older medical staff. CONCLUSIONS: Although the serious psychological impact of COVID-19 is not so common in medical staff in China, programs are needed to protect them against the negative impacts of COVID-19.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
HCWs are at particular risk of adverse psychological outcomes, including stress, anxiety, depression, distress, insomnia, emotional exhaustion, burnout, and post-traumatic stress disorder, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Consistently with the results of many studies on the psychological impact of past pandemics on health professionals [14,15,16], the literature published until now about COVID-19 revealed that HCWs are at particular risk of adverse psychological outcomes, i.e., of developing more severe mental symptoms, including stress, anxiety, depression, distress, insomnia, emotional exhaustion, burnout, as wel”
Cites
Wang, D., Hu, B., Hu, C., Zhu, F., Liu, X., Zhang, J., Wang, B., Xiang, H., Cheng, Z., Xiong, Y., et al. (2020) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2020.1585 · Cited by 20,148 · see citing works
Self-citationA self-rating depression scale
ZUNG, W. W. K. (1965) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1965.01720310065008 · Cited by 9,813 · see citing works
A Rating Instrument For Anxiety Disorders
Zung, W. W. K. (1971) · Psychosomatics · doi:10.1016/s0033-3182(71)71479-0 · Cited by 4,578 · see citing works
Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak
Chen, Q., Liang, M., Li, Y., Guo, J., Fei, D., Wang, L., He, L., Sheng, C., Cai, Y., Li, X., et al. (2020) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30078-x · Cited by 2,233 · see citing works
Self-citationThe mental health of medical workers in Wuhan, China dealing with the 2019 novel coronavirus.
Kang, L., Li, Y., Hu, S., Chen, M., Yang, C., Yang, B. X., Wang, Y., Hu, J., Lai, J., Ma, X., et al. (2020) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30047-x · Cited by 2,061 · see citing works
Maunder, R., Hunter, J., Vincent, L. H., Bennett, J. P., Peladeau, N., Leszcz, M., Sadavoy, J., Verhaeghe, L. M., Steinberg, R. J., & Mazzulli, T. (2003) · Europe PMC (PubMed Central) · Cited by 1,495 · see citing works
Chan, A. (2004) · Occupational Medicine · doi:10.1093/occmed/kqh027 · Cited by 556 · see citing works
Alcohol Abuse/Dependence Symptoms Among Hospital Employees Exposed to a SARS Outbreak: Table 1
Wu, P., Liu, X., Fang, Y., Fan, B., Fuller, C. J., Guan, Z., Yao, Z., Kong, J., Lü, J., & Litvak, I. J. (2008) · Alcohol and Alcoholism · doi:10.1093/alcalc/agn073 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
Tang, L., Pan, L., Yuan, L., & Zha, L. (2016) · International Journal of Nursing Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.ijnss.2016.12.002 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Stawicki, S. P., Paladino, L., Sharpe, R., Galwankar, S., Sholevar, F., Marchionni, C., Papadimos, T. J., Paul, E., Hansoti, B., Firstenberg, M. S., et al. (2017) · Journal of Global Infectious Diseases · doi:10.4103/jgid.jgid_24_17 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Nurses' experience with vancomycin‐resistant enterococci (VRE)
Mitchell, A. M., CUMMINS, T., Spearing, N., Adams, J. J., & GILROY, L. (2002) · Journal of Clinical Nursing · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2702.2002.00560.x · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 13 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Burnout among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study
Jalili, M., Niroomand, M., Hadavand, F., Zeinali, K., & Fotouhi, A. (2021) · International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health · doi:10.1007/s00420-021-01695-x · Cited by 350 · see citing works
Public mental health problems during COVID-19 pandemic: a large-scale meta-analysis of the evidence
Liu, X., Zhu, M., Zhang, R., Zhang, J., Zhang, C., Liu, P., Feng, Z., & Chen, Z. (2021) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-021-01501-9 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
Self-citationSun, J., Sarfraz, M., Ivaşcu, L., Iqbal, K., & Mansoor, A. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph191610359 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Impact of COVID-19 First Wave on Psychological and Psychosocial Dimensions: A Systematic Review
Filindassi, V., Pedrini, C., Sabadini, C., Duradoni, M., & Guazzini, A. (2022) · COVID · doi:10.3390/covid2030022 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Burnout status of healthcare workers in the world during the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic
Ulfa, M., Azuma, M., & Steiner, A. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.952783 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Bongelli, R., Canestrari, C., Fermani, A., Muzi, M., Riccioni, I., Bertolazzi, A., & Burro, R. (2021) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare9081086 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Zhan, J., Chen, C., Yan, X., Wei, X., Zhan, L., Chen, H., & Lu, L. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.947945 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Schou‐Bredal, I., Bonsaksen, T., Ekeberg, Ø., Skogstad, L., Grimholt, T. K., & Heir, T. (2022) · Public Health in Practice · doi:10.1016/j.puhip.2022.100267 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Blake, H., Mancini, H., Coyne, E., Cooper, J. E., & Stanulewicz, N. (2024) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-024-10730-9 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Evaluation of Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Health-Care Workers
Grover, S., Mehra, A., Sahoo, S., Avasthi, A., Rao, T. S., Vaishnav, M., Dalal, P., Saha, G., Singh, O. P., Chakraborty, K., et al. (2021) · Indian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_1129_20 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Related Factors in Nurses Caring for COVID-19 Patients
Mirzaei, A., Molaei, B., & Soola, A. H. (2022) · Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research · doi:10.4103/ijnmr.ijnmr_456_20 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Li, C.-F., Wu, Q., Gu, D.-B., & Ni, S. (2021) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-022-04011-0 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Digby, R., Hopper, I., Hughes, L., McCaskie, D., Tuck, M., Fallon, K., Hunter, P. C., & Bucknall, T. K. (2023) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-022-09000-3 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Liang, T., Mirza, H. K., Malakoutikhah, A., Dehghan, M., Mokhtarabadi, S., Fard, S. B., & Al-Amer, R. M. (2023) · Journal of Religion and Health · doi:10.1007/s10943-023-01938-w · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Ma, M., Adeney, M., Long, H., & He, B. (2021) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.774553 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Cai, H., Garcia, A. L., Polivka, B. J., Spreckelmeyer, K., & Yang, F. M. (2023) · HERD Health Environments Research & Design Journal · doi:10.1177/19375867221149126 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Yesuf, M., Alemu, Z. A., Mohammed, A. S., Tekle, N. F., Admassie, S. H., & Diress, G. M. (2025) · SAGE Open Nursing · doi:10.1177/23779608251366384 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Iftikhar, F., Tayyab, M., Ahmed, T. F., & Sadiq, T. (2022) · EMJ Respiratory · doi:10.33590/emjrespir/21-00159
薛, 梅. (2022) · Advances in Clinical Medicine · doi:10.12677/acm.2022.1291267
CİHAN, S., & Aygün, Ö. (2023) · Izmir Democracy University Health Sciences Journal · doi:10.52538/iduhes.1199951
Gupta, V., Singh, S., Kumar, V., & Kanwar, P. (2022) · MAMC Journal of Medical Sciences · doi:10.4103/mamcjms.mamcjms_111_21
Kaur, P., Arora, G. K., & Aggarwal, A. (2023) · Margin The Journal of Applied Economic Research · doi:10.1177/00252921241262656
Blake, H., Mancini, H., Coyne, E., Cooper, J. E., & Stanulewicz, N. (2024) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.26689994
Aldabbour, B., Alkhaldi, M., Alkordi, I., Harara, N., Jouda, K., Elyazoury, O., Eid, M., Elhendi, M., Ibrahim, M., Matter, M., et al. (2026) · Middle East Current Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s43045-026-00650-1
John, D., Yadav, J., Rane, S., Kohli, S., Lakhani, R., Gaikwad, S., Thomas, K. S., Thomas, M. S., & Venkateswaran, C. (2026) · Journal of Health Management · doi:10.1177/09720634261453744
- Authors
- Guo, J., Liao, L., Wang, B., Li, X., Guo, L., Tong, Z., Guan, Q., Zhou, M., Wu, Y., Zhang, J., Dardik, A., & Gu, Y.
- Affiliations
- Capital Medical University (CN)
- Fujian Medical University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Gu, Yongquan
- ORCID
- Venue
- Vascular Investigation and Therapy
- Published
- 2021-01
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 6-11
- ISSN
- 2589-9481 (ISSN-L)
- 2589-9686
- OpenAlex
- W3136366662
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 3.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Vascular Investigation and Therapy (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- 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 › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, psychological impact, mental health, healthcare workers, anxiety, depression, nurses, age differences, China
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
