Association of acquisition path of epidemic information with psychological problems during period of novel coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic among community residents in Anhui province

  Objective  To examine routes of acquiring relevant information on novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic and their correlation with psychological problems during epidemic period among community residents in Anhui province for providing evidences to mental crisis intervention in the residents.

  Methods  We conducted an online anonymous survey among 4 016 community residents recruited with convenient sampling in Anhui province from January 30 to February 2, 2020. A self-designed questionnaire was distributed via WeChat and QQ platform to collect residents′ status of information acquisition and psychological problems.

  Results  Valid information were collected from all the respondents. Almost all (3 929, 97.8%) of the respondents reported obtaining COVID-19 epidemic information through online social networks and 2 294 (57.1%) reported getting the information from governmental and professional institutions. Among the respondents, the number (ratio) reporting following mental or behavioral problems during previous one week were 1 454 (36.2%) for panic, 1 303 (32.4%) for sleep disorders, 1 065 (26.5%) for unreasonable disinfection, 633 (15.8%) for anxiety, 303 (7.5%) for fatigue, 232 (5.8%) for irritability, and 199 (5.0%) for pessimism or disappointment, respectively. More respondents reported getting information through more than one route, with the proportion (number) of acquiring information through 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4 routes of 16.2% (650), 18.8% (754), 23.9% (960) and 41.1% (1 652). The proportion of the respondents reporting unreasonable disinfection and sleep disorders differed significantly by the number of ways for acquiring COVID-19 epidemic information, with the proportions of 33.7%, 26.9%, 23.4%, and 25.3% for unreasonable disinfection (χ² = 23.160, P < 0.01) and the proportions of 38.0%, 33.0%, 30.1%, and 31.4% for sleep disorders (χ² = 12.560, both P < 0.01) for the respondents adopting 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4 routes to search relevant information. The reported occurrence of unreasonable disinfection and sleep disorders decreased significantly with the reported number of routes for acquiring relevant information (χ²_trend = 13.997 and χ²_trend = 8.215, both P < 0.01).

  Conclusion  Disseminating relevant information through multiple media among the public during infectious disease epidemic may alleviate psychological and behavioral problems such as unreasonable disinfection and sleep disorders among community residents.