PTSD and its relationship with the Fear of COVID-19 and COVID-19 burden among health care workers after the full liberalization of COVID-19 prevention and control policy in China: a cross-sectional study

Background: Over the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an overwhelming impact on China's hospital system and health care workers, and can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous research has shown that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be long-term negative impacts on healthcare workers' mental health. Indeed, PTSD has emerged as one of the significant mental health issues for health care workers arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The status of PTSD of healthcare workers directly affects the quality of national medical and health services. Therefore, it is vital to understand the PTSD situation of healthcare workers in the post-pandemic era. Methods: This study was conducted three years after the global COVID-19 pandemic (January 15 to January 16, 2023). The study was administered through a web-based survey platform. The PC-PTSD-5 Chinese Version Scale, Fear of COVID-19 Scale(FCV-19S), Social support Scale, COVID-19 burden Scale, GAD-2, and PHQ-2 were used by the Questionnaire Star platform. Results: The prevalence of PTSD in health care workers was 24.3% (232/955). depress(P < 0.001), anxiety(P < 0.05), the Fear of COVID-19(P < 0.001), and COVID-19 burden(P < 0.001) were highly correlated with PTSD in health care workers. Social support(P < 0.05) was a protective factor of smartphone addiction. Conclusions: This survey shows that PTSD was highly prevalent among Chinese healthcare workers after the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments and leaders of medical institutions should through psychological interventions to address the current situation of PTSD among health care workers and develop targeted programs and strategies to reduce their psychological problems.