Research on the Emotions of Uninfected People during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China

BackgroundThe negative emotions induced by the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic are affecting peoples health. In order to identify emotional problems and promote early intervention to reduce the risk of disease, we studied the emotional states of Chinese people during the epidemic. MethodWe adopted the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics mood scale and prepared an online questionnaire. Then, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis of the effective responses of 567 participants from 31 provinces and cities in China. Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of the distribution of different types of emotions and compared them via several statistical methods. ResultsThe original scale was modified to have six dimensions that yielded reliable internal consistency values ranging from 0.898 to 0.965 and explained 74.96% of the total variance. We found that a total of 33.9% of respondents felt negative emotions more strongly, were less happy and had less energy than other respondents (p<0.001). People with these traits had relatively serious emotional problems and were typically over 60 years old, doctoral degree holders, enterprise personnel and residents in an outbreak area. ConclusionThirty-three percent of people without COVID-19 had emotional problems. Psychotherapy should be provided as early as possible for people with emotional problems caused by the epidemic, and the modified scale could be used to survey the publics mood during public health events to detect problems and facilitate early intervention.