The Influence of Health Beliefs on Interpersonal Loneliness among Front-Line Healthcare Workers during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of health beliefs interpersonal loneliness among front-line healthcare workers working in 2019 novel coronavirus epidemic areas.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 205 clinical medical staff from epidemic areas to examine the associations of self-efficacy with interpersonal loneliness in Hubei. We use the Internet questionnaire survey platform "questionnaire Star" to make an online questionnaire system to collect the basic socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, loneliness score, self-efficacy score, and locus of control. The linear regression model was used to examine the relationship between self-efficacy score and loneliness score, adjusted for sex and education.

Results: Self-efficacy score was a positive correlation with loneliness score in the in both the unadjusted (β=0.30, 95%CI=0.12 to 0.48, p<0.001)and adjusted(β=0.30, 95%CI=0.12 to 0.48, p<0.001) analyses. Because of reverse scoring for self-efficacy, lower self-efficacy was associated with high levels of loneliness. Stratified analyses stratified by social demography characteristics showed that the no associations between self-efficacy score and loneliness score remained significant in over 35 years old or doctors.

Conclusions: Low level of self-efficacy is a risk factor for loneliness in medical staff. The group of medical staff with low self-efficacy should attract our attention, and some strategies should be formulated to alleviate loneliness through improving self-efficacy.

Keywords: cross-sectional, 2019 novel coronavirus, frontline healthcare workers, efficacy beliefs, locus of control, interpersonal loneliness

JEL Classification: I12