Is Quarantine Related to Immediate Negative Psychological Consequences During the 2009 H1n1 Epidemic?

Objective: To investigate whether being quarantined to contain H1N1 flu transmission is related to immediate negative psychological consequences or not.Methods: Immediate psychological consequences were evaluated with the 20-item Self-Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and the Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) among 419 undergraduate students (176 being quarantined and 243 being nonquarantined).Results: No significant difference was found between the quarantined group and the nonquarantined group for IES-R screening-positive rate or SRQ-20 screening-positive rate. Multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that dissatisfaction with control measures was the significant predictor of both SRQ-20 positive screening (OR=2.22) and IES-R positive screening (OR=2.22).Conclusion: These results are consistent with the conclusion that quarantine does not have negative psychological effects under these circumstances. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.