Mental Health, Risk Factors, and Social Media Use During the COVID-19 Epidemic and Cordon Sanitaire Among the Community and Health Professionals in Wuhan, China: Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background The mental health consequences of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, community-wide interventions, and social media use during a pandemic are unclear. The first and most draconian interventions have been implemented in Wuhan, China, and these countermeasures have been increasingly deployed by countries around the world. Objective The aim of this study was to examine risk factors, including the use of social media, for probable anxiety and depression in the community and among health professionals in the epicenter, Wuhan, China. Methods We conducted an online survey via WeChat, the most widely used social media platform in China, which was administered to 1577 community-based adults and 214 health professionals in Wuhan. Probable anxiety and probable depression were assessed by the validated Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (cutoff ≥3) and Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (cutoff ≥3), respectively. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors associated with probable anxiety and probable depression. Results Of the 1577 community-based adults, about one-fifth of respondents reported probable anxiety (n=376, 23.84%, 95% CI 21.8-26.0) and probable depression (n=303, 19.21%, 95% CI 17.3-21.2). Similarly, of the 214 health professionals, about one-fifth of surveyed health professionals reported probable anxiety (n=47, 22.0%, 95% CI 16.6-28.1) or probable depression (n=41, 19.2%, 95% CI 14.1-25.1). Around one-third of community-based adults and health professionals spent ≥2 hours daily on COVID-19 news via social media. Close contact with individuals with COVID-19 and spending ≥2 hours daily on COVID-19 news via social media were associated with probable anxiety and depression in community-based adults. Social support was associated with less probable anxiety and depression in both health professionals and community-based adults. Conclusions The internet could be harnessed for telemedicine and restoring daily routines, yet caution is warranted toward spending excessive time searching for COVID-19 news on social media given the infodemic and emotional contagion through online social networks. Online platforms may be used to monitor the toll of the pandemic on mental health.

The Psychological State and Changes in the Routine of the Patients with Rheumatic Diseases during the First Month of the Lockdown of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak in Turkey

“…Additionally, being female, a lover level of education, having achild, living in a crowded family, a duration of social media/TVexposure above 1 hour per day, participant or someone in thevicinity contracting COVID-19, having a comorbid disease or aprevious psychiatric diagnosis were found to be independent riskfactors associated with the increased PTS, anxiety and depressionin our total study population, in line with the previous reports (6,(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20).These ndings essentially emphasize a higher risk forcertain individuals for psychological distress during the pandemic,based on their pre-trauma features such as gender, education andpsychiatric or medical history, as well as features such as traumadirectness, personal victimization of the individual and closerelatives and the amount of exposure through TV and social media.Of concern, the latter two can become particularly fertile groundsfor anxiety-provoking information and disinformation during apandemic.…”

Tracking private WhatsApp discourse about COVID-19: A longitudinal infodemiology study in Singapore

“…More broadly, our findings align with a large body of literature that has linked social media usage with adverse mental health (Karim et al, 2020;Schønning et al, 2020;Sharma et al, 2020). This pattern has been observed both outside and inside the crisis context: for example, even in the current COVID-19 crisis, the frequency of social media usage has been found to predict depression symptoms (Ni et al, 2020). Our study extends the existing research by demonstrating that specific messaging activities (day-to-day exchanges on WhatsApp) is linked to well-being.…”

Infodemic within a Pandemic - The Case of COVID-19 and Urban India

“…14 With regards to social media, while some studies from China have linked the duration of social media exposure positively with higher risks of anxiety and depression during the COVID-19. 15,16 there is also evidence of it aiding government and health agencies by drawing attention towards public emergencies and as a mode of mass communication. 17 On the other hand in an analysis on misinformation on Twitter, Kouzy et al reported that 24.8% of the 673 tweets they analysed included misinformation and 17.4% included unverifiable information regarding the COVID-19.…”