Intention to Care for COVID-19 Patients Among Nurses Working at Health Care Institutions of Debre Tabor Town, North Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused many challenges for health care providers. Nurses meet patients with coronavirus disease and offer care for newly communicable diseases. Despite global and national efforts to prevent the spread, the outbreak is still on a rise, and studies on the health care behaviors of nurses were scarce in the study setting. Therefore, this study was intended in addressing nurses’ intention to care for coronavirus disease 19 patients and its determinants among nurses working at Debre Tabor town Health Care Institutions, 2020. Methodology An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 163 nurses working at health care institutions of Debre Tabor Town, from June 01 to 15/2020. The data were collected using tools with a self-administration questionnaire adapted from the theory of planned behavior and different kinds of literatures. All nurses working at Debre Tabor health care institutions were included. Data were entered using Epi-data 4.2.0.0 statistical software, and analysis was done by Stata version 14 statistical software. Binary logistic regression model was used for analysis. Strength of association was measured using the odds ratio with 95% CI, and the level of significance was estimated at P-value ≤0.05. Results Nurses’ intention to care for COVID-19 patient was 59.5% (95% CI; 58.7:60.3). Having better working experience (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =2.3:95% CI; 1.120, 4.910), caring experience for infectious disease (AOR=2.5; 95% CI: 1.10, 5.50), good perceived behavioral control (AOR=2.33; 95% CI: 1.13, 4.8), and subjective norms (AOR= 2.14; 95% CI: 1.05, 4.36) were significantly associated with intention of caring behavior. Conclusion Nurses’ intention to care for COVID-19 patients was low. Working experience, the experience of caring for infectious disease, self-efficacy, and subjective norm were independently related with nurses’ caring intention. The government should work on improving nurse’s confidence in disaster management, design disaster management nursing education, and frequent support of nurses.

Using the theory of planned behaviour to explain junior nurses' and final‐year student nurses' intention to care for COVID‐19 patients in China: A multisite cross‐sectional study

“…Consistent with earlier research findings in the contexts of Australia (61%) (Lord et al, 2021 ) and Ethiopia (59.5%) (Minuye et al, 2021 ), the majority of the nurses/student nurses (63.4%) in the present study would volunteer to care for COVID‐19 patients. In mainland China, the proportions of nurses willing to join the COVID‐19 frontline were reported as between 92% and 96% during the first wave of COVID‐19 (Ke et al, 2021 ; Luo et al, 2021 ; Wu et al, 2020 ).…”

“…According to Ajzen ( 2011 ), the TPB is most appropriate for predicting behaviours that are beyond one's volitional control, as is the case of caring for patients with emerging infectious diseases. Indeed, previous studies have used this model to explain up to 55% of variance in nurses' and student nurses' intention to provide care in the contexts of COVID‐19 (Cheng et al, 2021 ; Minuye et al, 2021 ; Tran et al, 2021 ), SARS (Ko et al, 2004 ), H1N1 (Jeong et al, 2015 ) and emerging infectious diseases (Lee & Kang, 2020 ).…”

“…Prior TPB‐based studies on nurses' and student nurses' intention to care for COVID‐19 patients were all conducted during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic (Cheng et al, 2021 ; Minuye et al, 2021 ; Tran et al, 2021 ). These research findings may not be transferable to later pandemic stages, particularly outbreaks involving the highly contagious and virulent Delta variant (Twohig et al, 2022 ).…”

Factors influencing nurses’ intention to care for patients with COVID-19: Focusing on positive psychological capital and nursing professionalism

“…A direct comparison of results was not feasible as no study has yet explored the influence of this subjective judgment on nurses’ intention to care in a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Results for this study can be interpreted in the same ways as the findings from Ko et al [ 35 ], which suggested the need for continuing education to induce intention to care in SRAS patients, have previous emergency and disaster experience [ 36 ], findings from previous studies that report nurses’ increased intention to respond if they have previous experience in caring for patients with infectious diseases [ 37 ], and previous studies that report relationship of confidence in personal skills with willingness to work [ 38 ]. This indicates that providing an opportunity for nurses to gain sufficient knowledge and experience regarding novel infectious diseases can promote their participation in a pandemic or related crisis.…”

Behavioral Intentions and Factors Influencing Nurses' Care of COVID-19 Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…One study showed that work-environment risk category were found to have a significant positive relationship with the nurses' willingness to care for patients with COVID-19, which is a strong predictor for nurses' willingness ( 9 ). Adaptation susceptibility, threat prediction, fear, understanding of coronavirus disease, the occurrence of workplace death, understanding of disease transmission and casualty, negative beliefs, work pressure, social pressure, normative beliefs, and subjective norms have been identified as factors influencing nurses' care of infectious patients ( 11 ). Nurses with a higher level of knowledge were more willing to work with COVID-19 patients ( 10 ).…”