Impacting factors and sources of perceived stress by home-quarantined residents in Shanghai during COVID-19 epidemic.

BACKGROUND: Home-quarantine is one of the most common measures implemented to prevent or minimize the transmission of COVID-19 among communities. This study assessed stress levels of the home-quarantined residents in Shanghai during a massive wave of COVID-19 epidemic this year, explored the stress sources perceived by the respondents, and analyzed the association between each of the sociodemographic factors and the stress level. METHODS: This online survey was launched during April 23 - 30, 2022, the early stage of a massive wave of COVID-19 in Shanghai, China. Participants were quarantined-residents negative for COVID-19. They were asked to list some situations that were their major concerns and perceived stressful, in addition to sociodemographic and COVID-19 related information. Moreover, they were asked to complete the Perceived Stress Scale-14 (PSS-14) for the assessment of stress level. RESULTS: A total of 488 valid questionnaires were collected from 192 male and 296 female respondents. Overall, 207 persons (42.42%) presented high stress level (PSS-14 score ≥43). The top three concerns perceived stressful by respondents are "not allowed to go outdoors", "uncertain duration of the epidemic", and "lack of food supply". Fewer than 50% of the respondents perceived the other situations stressful. Higher proportions of young adults (≤ 29 years old), males, unemployed, singles, and those with low income (≤ 1999 yuan/month) perceived high stress compared to their counterparts, none of COVID-19 related factors is associated with the stress level, including location of residence, result of nucleic acid test, knowledge about COVID-19, whether vaccinated, and quarantine duration. CONCLUSION: Home-quarantine applied to people negative for COVID-19 led to a lot of major concerns that may be perceived stressful, whereas the virus-related factors did not show significant impact on mental health of the respondents.

COVID-19 infection outbreak increases anxiety level of general public in China: involved mechanisms and influencing factors.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 outbreak happened last December in China and is still continuing. Here, we reported effects of COVID-19 outbreak on the mood of general public and ascertained impacts of psychosocial factors on the plague-related emotional measures. METHODS: During Feb. 4-6, 2020, a self-reported questionnaire Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was disseminated to general public via Wechat, along with a sociodemographic information sheet. BAI score and incidences of moderate and severe anxiety in subgroups of respondents were compared. Multiple linear and logistic regressions were done for correlation analysis and to identify factors predictive of anxiety. RESULTS: Averaged BAI score of all respondents is higher than those of general public in two previous studies. The people quarantined for probable COVID-19 infection presented higher BAI score and incidences of moderate and severe anxiety relative to non-quarantined respondents. People in high epidemic area showed higher BAI score and incidences of moderate and severe anxiety compared to those in low epidemic area. Significant associations existed between anxiety level of the respondents and each of the investigated factors, except for gender. Quarantine was the predictor with a highest OR, followed by divorced/widow. The other factors showed smaller but significant effects on the anxiety level of respondents. LIMITATIONS: This cross-sectional study was unable to track the emotional changes in the respondents over time. It had a relatively small sample and involved some of emotional measures only. CONCLUSION: These data are of help in planning psychological interventions for the different subpopulations in general public during and after COVID-19 outbreak.