ABSTRACT

Japan witnessed the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in March – May 2020. We examined whether the impact of COVID-19 on people seeking help from mental and physical health professionals varied with changes in employment (from full-time employment to unemployment or leave of absence) and psychological predisposition to new-type depression (Interpersonal Sensitivity [IS]/Privileged Self [PS]) associated with the pandemic. An online survey was conducted in June 2020 (after the outbreak of COVID-19) among people who were full-time employees as of April 2019. Data from 1,053 individuals were analyzed. The survey asked about regular visits to health professionals one year prior to the survey (June 2019) and at the time of the survey. Employment status, personality traits, and demographic characteristics were also examined. We found that consultation rates changed little before and after the pandemic. Logistic regression analysis showed that after controlling for age and gender, being unemployed or absent from work after the pandemic and having higher scores for IS/PS were positively associated with regular visits to health professionals. Considering that COVID-19 has been shown to increase the incidence of physical and mental illness, the finding that the rate of consultations remained unchanged implies that consultations were withheld. Joblessness/absence from work and IS/PS had negative effects on physical and mental health, leading to fewer visits.

摘要

日本于 2020 年 3 月至 5 月期间爆发了冠状病毒病 (COVID-19)。我们研究了 COVID-19 对向精神和身体健康专业人员寻求帮助的人的影响是否随就业变化（从全职就业到失业）而变化。或请假）以及与大流行相关的新型抑郁症（人际敏感性[IS]/特权自我[PS]）的心理倾向。2020 年 6 月（新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 爆发后）对截至 2019 年 4 月的全职员工进行了一项在线调查。对 1,053 人的数据进行了分析。该调查询问了调查前一年（2019 年 6 月）和调查时定期拜访卫生专业人员的情况。还检查了就业状况、性格特征和人口特征。我们发现，疫情前后的就诊率变化不大。逻辑回归分析显示，在控制年龄和性别后，大流行后失业或缺勤以及 IS/PS 得分较高与定期就诊卫生专业人员呈正相关。考虑到COVID-19已被证明会增加身体和精神疾病的发病率，咨询率保持不变的发现意味着咨询被取消。失业/缺勤和 IS/PS 对身心健康产生负面影响，导致就诊次数减少。