title: The psychological impact of the SARS epidemic on hospital employees in China: exposure, risk perception, and altruistic acceptance of risk.
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.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. pw11@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yunyun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Junhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Zhongling
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Xinhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Cordelia J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.forename: Ezra
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Susser
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Christina W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Hoven
mesh_terms: 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