Effects of the Resilience of Nurses in Long-Term Care Hospitals during on Job Stress COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Effects of Nursing Professionalism

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate nursing professionalism as a mediating factor in the relationship between resilience and job stress levels for nurses working in long-term care hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from January to March 2021 in seven long-term care hospitals in the Seoul metropolitan area to measure resilience, nursing professionalism, and job stress among nurses. Simple and multiple regression analyses along with the Sobel test were performed to verify the mediating effect of nursing professionalism. Results: Data from 200 nurses were included in the final analysis. Results showed that individual and occupational characteristics could lead to differences in nurses’ resilience, job stress levels, and nursing professionalism. Nursing professionalism had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between resilience and job stress levels. The effect of resilience on job stress levels was significant (β = –0.16, p = 0.024). After controlling for nursing professionalism, the effect declined and was not statistically significant (β = –0.09, p = 0.251). Conclusion: There is a need to increase individual resilience and nursing professionalism through intervention programs and policy proposals to manage job stress among long-term care hospital nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Literature Review: The Mental Problem Caused by Nurses’ Work Stress under the Impact of COVID-19

“…Hong and other experiments also indicated that nurses with high scores of depression got lower resilience scores, which raised the level of work stress and anxiety, which had been proved in Shirali et al's study, that resilience also has a negative relationship with job stress [21,26]. Resilience is the ability to overcome difficulties quickly, and it could help nurses acclimatize positively themselves to occupational stress [36]. Resilience is also a necessary origin for recovering the work stress, and persons with a high level of resilience could maintain positive emotions and mental health even under stressful situations [13].…”

“…Hong et al commented that resilience could be defined as an adaptive coping way, which might be significant to reveal health care workers' job stress and mental problem when they were caring for Covid-19 patients and protecting them from being infected during this pandemic era [21]. Furthermore, Park and Jung declared that resilience could help nurses change stressful situations by adapting the negative circumstance positively, thereby strengthening their well-being and decreasing vulnerability [36]. Shirali et al studied resilience would play a significant role in facing work environment challenges, which means that nurses could adapt actively to their work circumstances and maintain professional treatment for patients [26].…”

“…Meanwhile, Shirali et al recommended that available policies such as practices to decrease the risk of infection might improve the well-being and resilience ability among nurses [26]. Park and Jung proposed that resilience should be built by advancing professionalism as professional resilience is correlated with organizational, professional, and individual policies, and resilience could be obtained through training and education [36]. Labrague and Santos had suggested that providing specific active interventions, mental resources, and a positive nursing environment is necessary for nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic era since the nurses' resilience ability could be developed in various conditions and circumstances [13].…”

Psychological Resilience and Career Success of Female Nurses in Central China: The Mediating Role of Craftsmanship

“…Exploring the reasons can know that, as nursing is a discipline with equal emphasis on knowledge and technology coupled with the particularity of clinical work in hospitals, nurses need to maintain operational rigor and science. Meanwhile, due to the renewal and supervision of medical and health institutions, nurses must continue to study and maintain rigor in order to ensure the precise completion of their work, which coincides with the craftsmanship of excellence, preciseness and truth-seeking ( Park and Jung, 2021 ). And for women in China, compared to other professions, nursing has relative stability which is in line with most women’s pursuit of work.…”

“…As a discipline with equal emphasis on knowledge and technology, rigor and science have become the connotation of clinical nurses’ work. Internalizing craftsmanship into all aspects of their work can effectively improve clinical efficiency and nursing service quality ( Tanaka et al, 2016 ; Park and Jung, 2021 ).…”