Perceived Social Support and Its Impact on Psychological Status and Quality of Life of Medical Staffs After Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Pneumonia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The outbreak of a new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) induced pneumonia (NCP) in the central city of Wuhan in China poses a threat to the public health. This study aims to compare the psychological status, life quality and perceived social support in medical staffs and average citizens in this particular situation. Methods: A total of 506 participants were enrolled in the study, including 258medical staffs and 248 average citizens. The Short Form-36 (SF-36), Patient Health Questionaire-4 (PHQ-4) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) questionnaires were administered to the participants after outbreak of NCP. The Chi-square test was used to examine differences in psychological consequences in categorical variables. The Spearman rank test was used to determine the correlation between anxiety, depression, quality of life and perceived social support. Findings: Six (1.19%) were diagnosed as confirmed NCP, including 3 medical staffs and 3 average citizens. Moreover, there were more medical staffs who had close contact with NCP patients than that in average citizens (37.21% vs 3.63%, p <0.001). Additionally, medical staffs showed higher scores of physical functioning and role physical scale than average citizens ( p =0.001). The former cohort gained significantly higher scores in all perceived social support scale domains: family support ( p =0.001), friend support ( p =0.038) and significant other social support ( p =0.025) than average citizens. Furthermore, medical staffs who had close contact with NCP patients were more susceptible to depression than medical staffs without previous contact with NCP patients and average citizens. Notably, Spearman rank correlation showed that depression and anxiety were negatively correlated with perceived social support in either medical staffs who had close contact with NCP patients or those without previous contact with NCP patients. Moreover, Mental health, General health, Bodily pain and Vitality were positively correlated with family support, friend support and significant other support in medical staffs. Interpretation: Medical staffs who had previous contact with NCP patients exhibited increased psychological problems and perceived social support. The governments should provide psychological services for medical staffs in the front line under the serious epidemic threat. Funding Statement: The authors stated: "Without funding support." Declaration of Interests: The authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was conducted according to the principles of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University (No.2020037). All participants have been recruited with their consent.