Impact of COVID Pandemic on the Mental State of Health Workers: A Study of Mindfulness-based Interventions

An increasing number of studies have been conducted on the prevalence of COVID-19 to develop strategies to combat the disease. However, less attention has been paid to the mental health of medical professionals.

To investigate whether a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course in Tibet could improve the mental health of medical personnel during the COVID-19 epidemic.

One hundred and eighteen medical staff were randomly selected from July 2022 to September 2022. After baseline enrolment, the control group (n=59) received baseline healthcare services, while the intervention group (n=59) received a 2-month positive intervention MBSR course in addition to baseline healthcare services. After the intervention, the intervention group underwent a final assessment, and the control group was subjected to MBSR for 2 months. The Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS), and the Chinese version of the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) were used to measure the emotional well-being of medical personnel.

The intervention group had significantly lower CPSS and SDS scores at the end of the MBSR course (P<0.01), and SCS scores were significantly increased during M2 (P=0.009), compared to M0. In the control group, the scores of SDS (P=0.223), SCS (P=0.112), and CPSS (P=0.131) in M2 were not significantly different from those in M0. The intervention and control groups showed statistically significant differences in CPSS scores (P=0.013), SDS scores (P=0.001), and SCS scores (P=0.029) at the end of the MBSR session.

It can be concluded that MBSR sessions can effectively alleviate negative emotions triggered by work stress and depression and improve self-compassion during an epidemic. It is recommended to participate in a scientific MBSR course to improve emotional well-being to some extent.