Public psychological crisis reports: an investigation during the remission of COVID-19 in China
ISSN: 1750-614X
Article publication date: 21 January 2022
Issue publication date: 2 January 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 outbreak has been effectively controlled in China, but the resulting public psychological crisis is a latent, persistent and torturous disaster. This crisis affects not only the individual’s health but also social stability. This study aims to reveal the structure and situation of public psychological crisis during the remission period of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey of the psychological crisis was conducted from February to May 2021. Data was collected from 1,056 respondents from different provinces in China.
Findings
The findings reveal the dangerous risks of public psychological crises. The specific results are as follows: first, a hierarchical state structure of psychological crisis is constructed and characterized as a significant gradient decline, namely, anxious state>panic state>depressive state>hostile state. Second, 43.939% of respondents reported an anxious state, 46.780% reported a panic state, 40.909% reported a depressive state, 28.883% reported a hostile state and 22.254% of the respondents had four psychological crisis states. Third, those with 56–65 years of age, equal or below high school and PhD, with monthly family incomes of ¥50,000–¥100,000 and living in the county and city areas have relatively high levels of psychological crisis.
Originality/value
This study enriches the research on the evolution of the psychological crisis in terms of structure and periods. This study also provides substantial evidence for hierarchical intervention and differentiated intervention of psychological crisis.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the experts for assisting with the revision. This work also was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72004123), Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation (Grant Application No.ZR201911180111 or Approval No.ZR2020QG004), Youth Innovation Technology Project of Higher School in Shandong Province (Grant Application No.2021RWG017, Occupational Safety and Health Innovation Team), Mental health education research project of SUST (Grant No.21XLJK02) and Teaching Education Reform and Practice Project of SUST.
Funding: This work was financially supported by Social Science Planning Project of Shandong Province (Grant No.21DGLJ17).
Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Citation
Han, S., Sun, T., Sun, Y. and Gao, X. (2023), "Public psychological crisis reports: an investigation during the remission of COVID-19 in China", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 112-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/CMS-08-2021-0351
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited