Self-efficacy and fatigue among health care workers during COVID-19 outbreak: A moderated mediation model of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and negative coping [post]

Tianya Hou, Wei Dong, Ruike Zhang, Xiangrui Song, Fan Zhang, Wenpeng Cai, Ying Liu, Guanghui Deng
2020 unpublished
Background. Health care workers (HCWs) fighting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) are not immune to fatigue. Self-efficacy has been suggested as a protective factor for fatigue. Nonetheless, less is known regarding the underlying mechanisms behind the association. This research aimed to explore the prevalence of fatigue among HCWs during the pandemic, investigate the mediating effect of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and moderating effect of negative coping in the association
more » ... tween self-efficacy and fatigue.Methods. The cross-sectional study employed a sample of 527 HCWs from Anhui Province, China. Self-efficacy, PTSD symptoms, negative coping and fatigue were measured by General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (CSCQ) and 14-item Fatigue Scale (FS-14) respectively.Results. The prevalence of fatigue among HCWs was 56.7%. The effect of self-efficacy on fatigue was partially mediated by PTSD symptoms. Additionally, negative coping moderated both the direct effect of self-efficacy on fatigue and the mediating effect of PTSD symptoms. As revealed by Johnson-Neyman technique, when the standard score of negative coping enhanced to 1.49 and over, the direct association between self-efficacy and fatigue was not significant. Likewise, the effect of self-efficacy on PTSD symptoms had no statistical significance when the standard score of negative coping was − 1.40 and lower.Conclusions. More than half HCWs suffer from fatigue during the COVID-19. For HCWs during the COVID-19 epidemic, especially those with higher levels of negative coping, it might be crucial to design program combining the enhancement of self-efficacy and interventions for PTSD to reduce fatigue.
doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-23066/v1 fatcat:sdz6xyy5qnehzd3dbqwf6gctyu