A cause of mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic is media exposure, which can impact health care professionals (HCPs) who must keep up to date with the statistics and procedures to fight the outbreak. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of listening to negative and positive news about COVID-19 pandemic and a relaxation pause audio. For that, we measured the emotional state through Likert items in a scale developed to assess how anxious, stressed, hopeful, conscious about emotions, irritated, despondent, joyful, optimistic, and preoccupied, he or she was feeling in the moment of evaluation. In an online experiment, an HCPs sample of 245 participants were randomly assigned to either listen to negative or positive news contents about COVID-19. After that, both groups were guided by a relaxation pause activity in which they paid attention to the body and breath. They were assessed before and after listening to each audio. After listening to negative news, participants entered in a more negative emotional state than at baseline (p < 0.001) and compared with participants who listened to positive news (p < 0.001). Both groups improved their emotional state after performing the proposed brief relaxation (p < 0.001). These results show the importance of HCPs being aware and controlling the content of consumed news. A brief relaxation practice can mitigate the negative effects of consuming information with negative content.

COVID-19 大流行期间造成精神困扰的一个原因是媒体曝光，这可能会影响必须及时了解最新统计数据和程序以抗击疫情的医疗保健专业人员 (HCP)。本研究旨在评估聆听有关 COVID-19 大流行的负面和正面新闻以及放松暂停音频的效果。为此，我们通过李克特项目测量了情绪状态，该量表旨在评估他或她在评估时的焦虑、压力、希望、情绪意识、恼怒、沮丧、快乐、乐观和全神贯注的程度。在一项在线实验中，245 名参与者组成的 HCP 样本被随机分配，让他们聆听有关 COVID-19 的负面或正面新闻内容。之后，两组都接受放松暂停活动的指导，在活动中他们关注身体和呼吸。他们在听每个音频之前和之后都接受了评估。听完负面新闻后，参与者进入了比基线更负面的情绪状态 ( p < 0.001)，并且与听了正面新闻的参与者 (p < 0.001) 相比。在执行建议的短暂放松后，两组人的情绪状态均得到改善（ p < 0.001）。这些结果表明 HCP 意识到并控制消费新闻内容的重要性。简短的放松练习可以减轻消费带有负面内容的信息的负面影响。