The COVID-19 pandemic has created great uncertainty around the world, and due to the pandemic, nurses have been exposed to an increase in highly stressful clinical situations. This study examines the relationships between perceived stress and emotional disorders among nurses who have provided direct patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the mediating role of resilience in these relationships. In an online cross-sectional design, we asked Spanish nurses (N = 214) to complete self-reported scales, and we performed correlation and mediation analyses between perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale, PSS-4), resilience (Wagnild Resilience Scale, RS-14), wellbeing (World Health Organization Wellbeing Index, five items, WHO-5), anxiety (PHQ-2) and depression (GAD-2). The nurses self-reported moderate levels of perceived stress, considerable psychological distress and high resilience. We found resilience to be significantly negatively correlated with the reported levels of perceived stress, anxiety and depression (p < 0.001). The mediating analysis revealed that resilience played a protective role in the direct relationships of stress with depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. To conclude, our findings supported the hypothesis that resilience mediated the relationship between stress and mental health.

Nurses’ well-being has been increasingly recognised due to the ongoing pandemic. However, no validation scales measuring nurses’ well-being currently exist. Thus, we aimed to validate the WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5) in a sample of nurses. A cross-sectional multinational study was conducted, and a total of 678 nurses who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain (36.9%), Chile (40.0%) and Norway (23.1%) participated in this study. The nurses completed the WHO-5, the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (GAD-2) and three questions about the quality of life (QoL). The WHO-5 demonstrated good reliability and validity in the three countries. Cronbach’s alphas ranged from 0.81 to 0.90. High correlations were found between the WHO-5 and the psychological well-being dimension of QoL, and negative correlations between the WHO-5 and PHQ-2. The unidimensional scale structure was confirmed in all the countries, explaining more than 68% of the variance. The item response theory likelihood ratio model did not show discernible differences in the WHO-5 across the countries. To conclude, the WHO-5 is a psychometrically sound scale for measuring nurses’ well-being during a pandemic. The scale showed strong construct validity for cross-cultural comparisons; however, more research is required with larger sample sizes.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is impacting the delivery of healthcare worldwide, creating dilemmas related to the duty to care. Although understanding the ethical dilemmas about the duty to care among nurses is necessary to allow effective preparation, few studies have explored these concerns. Aim: This study aimed to identify the ethical dilemmas among clinical nurses in Spain and Chile. It primarily aimed to (1) identify nurses’ agreement with the duty to care despite high risks for themselves and/or their families, (2) describe nurses’ well-being and (3) describe the associations between well-being and the duty to care. Research design: Cross-sectional self-reported anonymous data were collected between May and June 2020 via electronic survey distribution (snowball sampling). Ethical considerations: The Institutional Ethical Review Committees in both countries approved the study (CHUC_2020_33 and 27/2020). Findings: In total, 345 clinical nurses answered the primary question about the duty to care for the sick. Although in the total sample 77.4% agreed they have a duty to care for the sick, significant differences were found between the Spanish and Chilean samples. Overall, 53.6% of the nurses reported low levels of well-being; however, among those reporting low well-being, statistically significant differences were found between Spanish and Chilean nurses as 19.4% and 37.8%, respectively, disagreed with the statement regarding the duty to care. Discussion: Participants in both countries reported several ethical dilemmas, safety fears, consequent stress and low well-being. These results suggest that prompt actions are required to address nurses’ ethical concerns, as they might affect their willingness to work and psychological well-being. Conclusion: Our findings shed light on the ethical dilemmas nurses are facing related to the duty to care. Not only has the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic given rise to ethical challenges, but it has also affected nurses’ well-being and willingness to work during a pandemic.

Objetivo: El objetivo de este trabajo fue conocer la experiencia de convertirse en cuidadora, en un grupo de cuidadoras familiares de la comuna de San Bernardo, Santiago de Chile, en el año 2016. Método: La relación de cuidado es un fenómeno social altamente contextual. Las personas vinculadas presentan conductas cuyos patrones y significación pueden explicarse a través de teoría fundamentada. Se realizan entrevistas a cinco cuidadoras, donde desde el muestreo teórico los datos fueron exhaustivamente codificados y analizados a través del método comparativo constante, estableciéndose categorías principales hasta conceptuales respecto al tema de estudio. Resultados: Los resultados obtenidos se relacionan principalmente con la experiencia de convertirse en cuidadoras, la cual se inicia desde el diagnóstico del familiar y se va configurando a medida que se va cuidando. A su vez, relatan las habilidades vinculadas al cuidado, donde quienes cuidan reconocen adquirir y desarrollar habilidades en este proceso. La red de apoyo a la cuidadora otorgada por familiares, amigos y centro de salud permite el desarrollo de patrones de cuidado significativos de mejor funcionalidad. Conclusión: El proceso de convertirse en cuidadora va generando habilidades en quienes ejercen el rol, el desarrollo de estas habilidades está mediado por redes de apoyo, de modo tal que quienes experimentan un nivel de apoyo conceptuado como significativo pudieran consolidarse en el rol de cuidadora.

Objectives Interprofessional collaboration in the training of nursing and psychology students helps provide students of both disciplines with the ability and competences they need to best attend to their patients. This study implemented and analyzed a method for developing the competences of each discipline in a scenario of joint clinical simulation that incorporates mental and physical health simultaneously, and measured the caring ability of the participating students. Methods Participants took a self-applied survey measuring their own caring ability. After, a clinical simulation was performed where nursing students performed clinical interviews on psychology students, who acted as standardized patients. Caring abilities were measured in the nursing students, and the psychology students implemented an intervention service measuring caring ability and brief - debrief simulation by coaching to nursing students. Results The results indicated that the self-applied questionnaire of caring ability resulted in scores significantly higher than what was measured by observers. Conclusions The results contribute to the development of protocols, training and collaborative work practices in interprofessional education, which allow the scaling of these competences.