title: Prevalence of psychological symptoms among Ebola survivors and healthcare workers during the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: The 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic was considered to be the largest and most complex outbreak, which caused 11,310 reported deaths. The epidemic disease can cause a mental health crisis, however, there is only a small amount of scientific literature available related to this health issue so far. We evaluated the psychological symptoms of 161 participants including Ebola survivors and healthcare workers in Sierra Leone, analyzed the impact of job classification, education level on psychological status. We found that the order of total general severity index (GSI) scores from high to low was EVD survivors, SL medical staff, SL logistic staff, SL medical students, and Chinese medical staff. There were 5 dimensions (obsession-compulsion, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, and paranoid ideation) extremely high in EVD survivors. GSI were associated with university education negatively. We believed our information is necessary to develop the comprehensive emergency response plan for emerging infectious disease outbreak.
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Ying-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Xue-Zhang
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Wen-Gang
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Zhi-Qiang
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Xue-Ai
authors.initials: XA
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Yu-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Hong-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Xia
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Guo-Feng
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Military Hospital of China, Beijing, China.|Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Hui-Juan
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Duan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012807:Sierra Leone; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: SCL-90-R; ebola virus disease; emergency response plan; emerging infectious disease; psychological symptoms