The Psychological Impact and Associated Factors of COVID-19 on the General Public in Hunan, China

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among the general public in Hunan Province, China, which could help develop psychological interventions and mental health programs.

Participants and Methods

This online cross-sectional study recruited 571 participants through snowball sampling between February 2 and February 5, 2020. Data were collected through a general information questionnaire, the Public Emergency Psychological State Questionnaire, the Simple Coping Style Questionnaire, and the Public Disease Awareness on COVID-19 Scale.

Results

The total mean score of the public emergency psychological state of the sample was 0.27 (0.31) points, with only 5.78% of participants (n = 33) developing psychological distress. Avoidant coping style and disease awareness were weakly positively correlated (r_s = 0.257, p < 0.01) and weakly negatively correlated (r_s = −0.124, p <0.01) with psychological responses, respectively. There were significant psychological differences among the following variables: occupation, symptoms of fever or fatigue, discernment of the authenticity of COVID-19 information, and level of concern regarding COVID-19 (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have had a minor psychological impact on the general population in Hunan Province. However, psychological health promotion in the general public is still required, especially for employees (such as company employees, migrant workers, and businessmen), individuals with COVID-19-like symptoms, limited discernment competence and unconcerned attitudes.

Implications

The initiatives for improving psychological health among the general public could focus on delivering COVID-19 knowledge and alleviating avoidant coping styles. Our findings could provide important insight for the development of psychological support strategies in China, as well as in other places affected by the epidemic.

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Keywords:

• coping style
• coronavirus disease 2019
• disease awareness
• psychological health
• public health emergency

Acknowledgments

First, we would like to thank Xiangnan University for approving and supporting this study. Second, we would like to thank the Questionnaire Star for providing us with the opportunity to conduct the online survey. Third, we would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for their linguistic assistance during the revision of this manuscript. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to all the participants for contributing valuable data.

Ethical Approval

The medical ethics committee of Xiangnan University approved this study (reg. no. KY- 202002001).

Disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Hunan Health Commission Fund (grant no. 20201138, 20200764) and the Hunan Social Science Achievement Evaluation Committee (grant no. XSP20YBC164).