The psychological impact of the SARS epidemic on hospital employees in China: exposure, risk perception, and altruistic acceptance of risk.
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.
Wu
Ping
P
Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. pw11@columbia.edu
Fang
Yunyun
Y
Guan
Zhiqiang
Z
Fan
Bin
B
Kong
Junhui
J
Yao
Zhongling
Z
Liu
Xinhua
X
Fuller
Cordelia J
CJ
Susser
Ezra
E
Lu
Jin
J
Hoven
Christina W
CW
D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006740:Hospital Administrators / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D011790:Quarantine / Q000523:psychology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology