Intervention Effect of the Integration Model on Negative Emotions of Adolescents during the Outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization has declared the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic as a public health emergency of international concern. Given the sudden infection from and extensive dispersion of COVID-19 and the absence of specific drugs, those infected are in danger if they are not treated in time. Consequently, COVID-19 has become an important factor influencing adolescents' mental health. The purpose of this study is to explore the intervention effect of the integration model on the negative emotions of adolescents during the COVID-19 epidemic.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Adolescents were randomly selected from five middle schools in Zhejiang Province of China from May 2020 to July 2020. First, the Self-rating Anxiety Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Scale, and Psychological Well-Being Scale were used for measurement. Then, 72 patients with moderate and severe anxiety symptoms were chosen as the research objects, and the intervention and comparison time was determined to be eight weeks. The subjects were randomly divided into the experiment group (35 members) and the control group (34 members). The integration model was employed on the experiment group.

RESULTS: Grade, physical condition, and sleep time are important factors influencing the anxiety level of adolescents during the COVID-19 period, and the anxiety risk of adolescents is higher during their third year of junior high school. After the intervention, the SAS score of the experiment group is lower than that of the control group, and the decrease in the SAS score is higher in the experiment group than in the control group (P<0.01). Moreover, the positive emotion score of the experiment group is higher than that of the control group, and the negative emotion score of the former is lower than that of the latter. The variances in the positive and negative emotion scores are higher in the experiment group than in the control group (P<0.01). The variance in the overall well-being index is also greater in the experiment group than in the control group (P<0.01).

CONCLUSION: The intervention using the integrated model can significantly reduce negative emotions such as anxiety, increase positive emotions, and improve the overall well-being of adolescents during the epidemic period.