Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 May;54(5):302-11.
doi: 10.1177/070674370905400504.

The psychological impact of the SARS epidemic on hospital employees in China: exposure, risk perception, and altruistic acceptance of risk

Ping Wu  1 , Yunyun Fang, Zhiqiang Guan, Bin Fan, Junhui Kong, Zhongling Yao, Xinhua Liu, Cordelia J Fuller, Ezra Susser, Jin Lu, Christina W Hoven
Affiliations

The psychological impact of the SARS epidemic on hospital employees in China: exposure, risk perception, and altruistic acceptance of risk

Ping Wu et al. Can J Psychiatry. 2009 May.

Abstract

Objective: We examined the psychological impact of the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on hospital employees in Beijing, China.

Methods: In 2006, randomly selected employees (n = 549) of a hospital in Beijing were surveyed concerning their exposure to the 2003 SARS outbreak, and the ways in which the outbreak had affected their mental health.

Results: About 10% of the respondents had experienced high levels of posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms since the SARS outbreak. Respondents who had been quarantined, or worked in high-risk locations such as SARS wards, or had friends or close relatives who contracted SARS, were 2 to 3 times more likely to have high PTS symptom levels, than those without these exposures. Respondents' perceptions of SARS-related risks were significantly positively associated with PTS symptom levels and partially mediated the effects of exposure. Altruistic acceptance of work-related risks was negatively related to PTS levels.

Conclusions: The psychological impact of stressful events related to an infectious disease outbreak may be mediated by peoples' perceptions of those events; altruism may help to protect some health care workers against these negative impacts.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. World Health Organization. The World Health Report 2006. Geneva (CH): WHO; 2006.
    1. Chong MY, Wang WC, Hsieh WC, et al. Psychological impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome on health workers in a tertiary hospital. Br J Psychiatry. 2004;185:127–133. - PubMed
    1. Sim K, Chua HC. The psychological impact of SARS: a matter of heart and mind. CMAJ. 2004;170(5):811– 812. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Summary table of SARS cases by country 1 November 2002—2007 August 2003. Geneva (CH): WHO; 2003.
    1. SARS Commission. Spring of fear, volumes 1, 2 and 3. Toronto (ON): SARS Commission (Canada); 2006.

Publication types

MeSH terms