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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1489961
This article is part of the Research Topic The Intersection of Psychology, Healthy Behaviors, and its Outcomes View all 33 articles

Unraveling the relationships among pandemic fear, cyberchondria, and alexithymia after China's exit from the zero-COVID policy: Insights from a multi-center network analysis

Provisionally accepted
Yuan Li Yuan Li 1Jie Li Jie Li 2*Chunfen Zhou Chunfen Zhou 2*Chuanya Huang Chuanya Huang 1*Biru Luo Biru Luo 1*Yanling Hu Yanling Hu 1*XI HUANG XI HUANG 1*Jinbo Fang Jinbo Fang 2*
  • 1 West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
  • 2 West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: China's abrupt exit from the zero-COVID policy in late 2022 led to a rapid surge in infections, overwhelming healthcare systems and exposing healthcare providers to intensified psychological pressures. This sudden shift exacerbated pandemic-related psychological issues, including fear, health anxiety, and emotional processing difficulties. This study aimed to unravel the relationships among pandemic fear, cyberchondria, and alexithymia following China's exit from the zero-COVID policy.Methods: A multi-center cross-sectional survey was conducted among 4088 nurses from 43 public hospitals in China. The web-based survey comprised the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Cyberchondria Severity Scale, and Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Network analysis was employed to explore the interconnections and identify central components within these psychological and behavioral constructs.The analysis revealed a dense network with predominantly positive connections. Specific aspects of cyberchondria and pandemic fear exhibited the highest strength centrality, indicating their critical influence. The externally oriented thinking dimension of alexithymia emerged as a crucial bridge node, linking pandemic fear and cyberchondria. The network structure demonstrated consistency across diverse educational backgrounds and career stages.These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions focusing on key network components, particularly externally oriented thinking, to disrupt the detrimental cycle of pandemic fear and cyberchondria. Healthcare organizations should promote balanced objective fact-focused and problem-solving approaches while also fostering skills in emotional awareness and expression, thereby mitigating the risk of maladaptive pandemic fear responses and dysfunctional online health information-seeking behaviors.* SD, standard deviation.† Single indicated separated, divorced, widowed, or never married, and married indicated married or partnered.

    Keywords: Pandemic fear, Cyberchondria, alexithymia, COVID-19, Network analysis, Nurse

    Received: 06 Sep 2024; Accepted: 29 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li, Li, Zhou, Huang, Luo, Hu, HUANG and Fang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jie Li, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Chunfen Zhou, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Chuanya Huang, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
    Biru Luo, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
    Yanling Hu, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
    XI HUANG, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
    Jinbo Fang, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

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