Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
International Journal of Public Health
Published in: International Journal of Public Health 8/2020

01-11-2020 | Affective Disorder | Original article

The immediate psychological effects of Coronavirus Disease 2019 on medical and non-medical students in China

Authors: Lin Xie, Hong Luo, Mei Li, Wenjie Ge, Bingyu Xing, Qunfang Miao

Published in: International Journal of Public Health | Issue 8/2020

Login to get access

Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the immediate psychological effects of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on medical and non-medical students.

Methods

An online survey of 805 medical students and 1900 non-medical students was conducted from Feb 4, 2020 to Feb 7, 2020, in China. The questionnaire measured the subjective estimated severity of COVID-19, the impact of the outbreak, and the levels of anxiety and depression of both medical and non-medical students.

Results

Medical students estimated COVID-19 to be more serious and disastrous than non-medical students, while they scored lower than non-medical students on the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and less severe anxiety and depression than non-medical students. The students experienced greater impact from the outbreak and a higher rate of anxiety and depression with increased time focusing on the outbreak. The difference in psychological effects between medical and non-medical students was further enlarged when focusing time was prolonged.

Conclusions

The immediate psychological effects of COVID-19 on medical and non-medical students exhibit different characteristics. The outcome of this study provides implication that providing accurate and transparent information about the epidemic and appropriate COVID-19-based knowledge in accessible ways will contribute to the public's mental health during the outbreak.
Literature
Abramowitz JS, Deacon BJ, Whiteside SP (2019) Exposure therapy for anxiety: principles and practice. Guilford Publications, New York
Bao Y, Sun Y, Meng S et al (2020) 2019-nCoV epidemic: address mental health care to empower society. The Lancet 395:e37–e38CrossRef
Baumgartner SE, Hartmann T (2011) The role of health anxiety in online health information search. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw 14:613–618CrossRef
Bian C, He X, QIAN J, et al (2009) The reliability and validity of a modified patient health questionnaire for screening depressive syndrome in general hospital outpatients. J Tongji Univ (Med Sci) 30(5):136–140
Blakey SM, Reuman L, Jacoby RJ et al (2015) Tracing “Fearbola”: psychological predictors of anxious responding to the threat of Ebola. Cognit Therapy Res 39:816–825CrossRef
Cheung EY (2015) An outbreak of fear, rumours and stigma: psychosocial support for the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in West Africa. Intervention 13:70–76CrossRef
Chua SE, Cheung V, Cheung C et al (2004) Psychological effects of the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong on high-risk health care workers. Can J Psychiat 49:391–393CrossRef
Dixon B (2003) Editors sound the SARS alarm bells. Curr Biol 13:R339–R340CrossRef
Guo S, Xin Z, Geng L (2007) Reliability and validity of Chinese version of the impact of event scale-revised. Chin J Clin Psychol 15:15
He X, Li C, Qian J et al (2010) Reliability and validity of a generalized anxiety disorder scale in general hospital outpatients. Shanghai Arch Psychiat 22:200–203
James JJ (2014) Fearbola. Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness 8:465–466CrossRef
Ki M (2014) What do we really fear? The epidemiological characteristics of Ebola and our preparedness. Epidemiology and health 36:e2014014CrossRef
Kroenke K, Spitzer RL (2002) The PHQ-9: a new depression diagnostic and severity measure. Psychiatric annals 32:509–515CrossRef
Lee AM, Wong JG, McAlonan GM et al (2007) Stress and psychological distress among SARS survivors 1 year after the outbreak. Can J Psychiat 52:233–240CrossRef
Lee SM, Kang WS, Cho A-R et al (2018) Psychological impact of the 2015 MERS outbreak on hospital workers and quarantined hemodialysis patients. Compr Psychiat 87:123–127CrossRef
Liao Q, Cowling BJ, Lam WWT et al (2011) The influence of social-cognitive factors on personal hygiene practices to protect against influenzas: using modelling to compare avian A/H5N1 and 2009 pandemic A/H1N1 influenzas in Hong Kong. Int J Behav Med 18:93–104CrossRef
Liu J, Zhou G, Huang H (2006) A review of research on risk perception. Psychol Sci 29(2):370–372
Matsuishi K, Kawazoe A, Imai H et al (2012) Psychological impact of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 on general hospital workers in Kobe. Psychiat Clin Neurosci 66:353–360CrossRef
Otu A, Ebenso B, Okuzu O, Osifo-Dawodu E (2016) Using a mHealth tutorial application to change knowledge and attitude of frontline health workers to Ebola virus disease in Nigeria: a before-and-after study. Hum Resour Health 14(5):5CrossRef
Patel I, Guy J, Han Y et al (2018) Effects of Ebola Virus Disease education on student health professionals. Curr Pharm Teach Learn 10:651–656CrossRef
Person B, Sy F, Holton K et al (2004) Fear and stigma: the epidemic within the SARS outbreak. Emerg Infect Dis 10:358CrossRef
Rezza G, Marino R, Farchi F et al (2004) SARS epidemic in the press. Emerg Infect Dis 10(2):381–382CrossRef
Ro J-S, Lee J-S, Kang S-C et al (2017) Worry experienced during the 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) pandemic in Korea. PLoS ONE 12(3):e0173234CrossRef
Siddle J, Tolleson-Rinehart S, Brice J (2016) Survey of emergency department staff on disaster preparedness and training for Ebola virus disease. Am J Disaster Med 11:5–18CrossRef
Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB et al (2006) A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Arch Intern Med 166:1092–1097CrossRef
Tambo E, Ugwu EC, Ngogang JY (2014) Need of surveillance response systems to combat Ebola outbreaks and other emerging infectious diseases in African countries. Infect Dis Poverty 3:29CrossRef
Taylor S, Asmundson GJ (2004) Treating health anxiety: a cognitive-behavioral approach. Guilford Press, New York
Van Bortel T, Basnayake A, Wurie F et al (2016) Psychosocial effects of an Ebola outbreak at individual, community and international levels. Bull World Health Organ 94:210CrossRef
Weiss DS (2007) The impact of event scale: revised. In: Cross-cultural assessment of psychological trauma and PTSD. Springer, Boston
Wong JG, Cheung EP, Cheung V et al (2004) Psychological responses to the SARS outbreak in healthcare students in Hong Kong. Med Teach 26:657–659CrossRef
Wong T-w, Lee C-k, Tam W et al (2004) Cluster of SARS among medical students exposed to single patient. Hong Kong Emerg Infect Dis 10:269CrossRef
Wong TW, Yau JK, Chan CL et al (2005) The psychological impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak on healthcare workers in emergency departments and how they cope. Eur J of Emerg Med 12:13–18CrossRef
Wong TW, Gao Y, Tam WWS (2007) Anxiety among university students during the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong. Stress Health J Int Soc Investig Stress 23:31–35CrossRef
Metadata
Title
The immediate psychological effects of Coronavirus Disease 2019 on medical and non-medical students in China
Authors
Lin Xie
Hong Luo
Mei Li
Wenjie Ge
Bingyu Xing
Qunfang Miao
Publication date
01-11-2020
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Published in
International Journal of Public Health / Issue 8/2020
Print ISSN: 1661-8556
Electronic ISSN: 1661-8564
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01475-3

Other articles of this Issue 8/2020

International Journal of Public Health 8/2020 Go to the issue

Original article

Victims, bullies and bully–victims: prevalence and association with negative health outcomes from a cross-sectional study in São Paulo, Brazil

EDITORIAL

The contribution of the network “Health Behavior in School-aged Children” to the health of young people in Central and Eastern Europe

Original article

Fatal injuries and economic development in the population sample of Central and Eastern European Countries: the perspective of adolescents

Original article

Smoking as a weight control strategy of Serbian adolescents

Original article

Availability of public open space and the practice of leisure-time physical activity among the Brazilian adult population

Original article

Neighborhood effects on internalizing and externalizing problems, and academic competence: a comparison of Roma and non-Roma adolescents