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. 2022 Oct 27;12(10):e059879.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059879.

Physical and mental health problems of Chinese front-line healthcare workers before, during and after the COVID-19 rescue mission: a qualitative study

Xiangjie Sun  1   2 , Zenghui Wang  1 , Huan Liu  3 , Minmin Ren  4 , Danjun Feng  5
Affiliations

Physical and mental health problems of Chinese front-line healthcare workers before, during and after the COVID-19 rescue mission: a qualitative study

Xiangjie Sun et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: To explore the physical and mental health problems of front-line healthcare workers fighting COVID-19 across the three phases of the epidemic rescue mission (before, during and after) in China.

Design: A qualitative study was adopted using face to face, in-depth semistructured interviews. Phenomenological research methods and Colaizzi's seven-step analysis method were used in the study.

Setting: The setting of the study was the offices of healthcare workers in 12 tertiary hospitals.

Participants: Thirty-one front-line healthcare workers from 16 provinces in China, who carried out rescue missions in Hubei Province, were interviewed from October to November 2020.

Results: Physical and mental health problems existed before, during and after the COVID-19 rescue mission. Eleven themes emerged during the three phases. Two themes appeared before rescue mission: basic diseases, anxiety before rescue mission. Five themes appeared during rescue mission: basic physical function disorder, physical exhaustion, negative cognition, negative emotions and negative behaviour. Four themes appeared after rescue mission: physical dysfunction, negative emotions, stigmatisation and hypochondriasis.

Conclusion: Both physical and mental health problems occurred throughout the three phases. The study results pointed that a comprehensive prevention and control system that addresses both physical and mental health problems of front-line healthcare workers throughout the three phases of epidemic rescue mission (before, during and after), and that involves themselves, their families, hospitals, the government and social organisations is needed.

Keywords: COVID-19; mental health; qualitative research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preliminary codes, initial thematic framework and final themes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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