AUTHOR=Wang Lingling , Yu Jing , Diao Xuqian , Zhang Yuanbei , Miao Ye , He Wei TITLE=The chain mediating effects of resilience and perceived social support in the relationship between perceived stress and depression in patients with COVID-19 JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=15 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1400267 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1400267 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=Introduction

Perceived stress and depression were indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in square-cabin hospitals. It was paramount to understand their mediating effects, which might detonate factors that led to mental illness.

Materials and methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate perceived stress and depressive symptoms among patients with COVID-19 in Shanghai square-cabin hospitals from April 18 to May 19, 2022. The questionnaire included the Perceived Stress Scale 10, Patient Health Questionnaire 9, Perceived Social Support Scale, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10.

Results

This study investigated the chain-mediating roles of perceived social support and resilience in the relationship between perceived stress and depression. Perceived stress positively predicted depression (r = 0.613, p < 0.01), negatively correlated with perceived social support (r = −0.318, p < 0.01) and resilience (r = −0.398, p < 0.01). In the chain mediating model, perceived stress had significant direct predictive effects on depression, and significant indirect predictive effects on depression through perceived social support and/or resilience.

Conclusion

It showed that higher perceived social support and resilience were associated with lower perceived stress among COVID-19 patients, which might lead to symptoms of mild depression, and highlights the importance of resilience and perceived social support in reducing depressive symptoms.