Authors (including presenting author) :
Kitty K WU 1
Angela Sze 2
Vanessa Ng 2
Valda Cho 3
Jamie Cheng 4
Maureen Wong 5
Siu Fai Cheung 6
Owen Tsang 7
Affiliation :
1 Department of Clinical Psychology, Kowloon West Cluster
2 Department of Clinical Psychology, Princess Margaret Hospital
3 Department of Clinical Psychology, Caritas Medical Centre
4 Department of Clinical Psychology, Yan Chai Hospital
5 Department of Medicine & Geriatrics / Intensive Care Unit, Caritas Medical Centre
6 Department of Medicine, Yan Chai Hospital
7 Department of Medicine & Geriatrics / Hospital Authority Infectious Disease Centre, Princess Margaret Hospital
Introduction :
Tele-psychological screening using standardized measures was conducted for early identification of psychological impact and service needs for COVID-19 patients. This service strategy is consistent with the recommendation of World Health Organization’s Interim Guidance on Clinical Management of COVID-19 which recommends prompt identification of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the context of COVID-19 and to initiate psychosocial support strategies as first-line interventions for the management of anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Objectives :
To study the psychological impact associated with COVID-19 via tele-psychological screening.
Methodology :
Tele-psychological screening (utilizing google forms and mobile applications) were conducted about 2 weeks to 1 month after patients were discharged from hospital and returned to the community. Standardised psychological measures including Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) and the Chinese Impact of Event Scale (CIES-R) were administered to 136 COVID-19 patients who consented to receive the screening service upon their discharge from one of the general hospitals in Kowloon West Cluster. Participants were aged 18 to 80; 51.5% were male; 6.6% had received treatment in Intensive Care Unit (ICU); 64.0% knew someone in their close proximity who was suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19; 1.5% knew someone in their close proximity who had died due to COVID-19. The present review covered the data collected from 18th February 2020 to 31st December 2020.
Result & Outcome :
The percentages of participants who passed the cutoff of screening measures indicating moderate to severe level of distress related to depressive, anxiety or posttraumatic stress (PTS) features were 22.8% for PHQ-9; 16.9% for GAD-7; 8.1% for CIES-R Intrusive subscale; 4.4% for CIES-R Avoidance subscale; 8.8% for CIES-R Hyperarousal subscale, respectively. Results of multiple regression analyses showed that the following risk factors were associated with higher scores in one or more psychological screening measures indicating greater psychological distress: (i) female gender, (ii) having a history of psychiatric consultation, (iii) higher perceived life threat, (iv) lower emotional support, and (v) knew someone in their close proximity who had died due to COVID-19.
The present study demonstrated that tele-psychological standardized screening could contribute to early identification of persisting psychological symptoms for discharged COVID-19 patients. This could facilitate understanding of their service needs and promote early intervention to accelerate psychological recovery. Possible risk factors related to clinical status of patients during hospitalization (e.g., length of stay in hospital, use of drug and/or oxygen) would be further examined.
