Psychological Distress and Coping Strategies among Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey

Abstract

Background: The emergence of COVID-19 has a significant impact on nurse’s overall health. The severity and magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic means it is extremely likely that health-care professionals will experience psychological distress as a result of their direct contact with patients who have contracted the infection. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate levels of psychological distress among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, determine the associated factors, and identify nurses’ coping strategies. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional design. Overall, 130 nurses answered online questionnaires. The questionnaires measured sociodemographic characteristics, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, and the Brief Coping Inventory. Results: Nurses have a moderate level of fear (mean score: 24.34 ± 13.43) and depression (43.8% of the sample), and severe anxiety (73.8%) and stress (45.4%). Anxiety and fear were positively correlated (r = .675, p < .001). Independent t-tests revealed that female nurses had higher psychological distress and fear than male nurses (p = 0.015 and p = 0.038, respectively). Nurses who cared for patients who had tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 and those who had a friend or family member who had tested positive had higher fear and psychological distress than their respective counterparts (p < .001 and p = .010, respectively). Working more hours was moderately correlated with fear and anxiety (p = 0.016). Nurses were found to generally adopt maladaptive coping styles. Conclusion: Through careful study of the factors determined through this research to be associated with psychological distress among nurses, the health-care community can better prepare to mitigate nurses’ emotional and psychological toll in future pandemic situations. Working with patients who have tested positive for COVID-2019 causes psychological distress for nurses.

Levels of Anxiety and Fear among Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

“…Finally, in the study conducted by Alnazly and Hjazeen [30] in Jordan, a mean score for the FCV-19 of 24.34 was obtained, indicating a remarkable fear of the COVID-19 pandemic. Female nurses were also found to have a higher mean score for fear of COVID-19 than their male counterparts [30].…”

“…Finally, the study by Alnazly and Hjazeen [30] also used the DASS scale, concluding that 73.8% of the sample had an extremely severe level of anxiety, 43.8% had a moderate level of depression, and 45.4% had a severe level of stress [30].…”

Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Psychosocial Burden and Job Satisfaction of Long-Term Care Nurses in Poland

“…Alnazly and Hjazeen’s study showed that nurses had moderate levels of anxiety (mean score: 24.34 ± 13.43) and depression (43.8% of the sample) and severe anxiety (73.8%) and stress (45.4%). Nurses who cared for patients who tested positive for coronavirus in 2019 and those who had friends or family members who tested positive had higher levels of anxiety and distress ( p < 0.001 and p = 0.010) [ 26 ].…”

The impact of psychological distress, socio‐demographic and work‐related factors on coping strategies used by nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A cross‐sectional study

“…Each factor has two items, and the total scores on each can range from 2 to 8, with higher scores indicating more significant use of coping strategies. The Brief COPE's validity has been assessed in multiple nursing studies, and its reported alpha coefficients have ranged from 0.81 to 0.88 in previous studies (Abdul Rahman et al., 2021 ; Alnazly & Hjazeen, 2021 ). We used the Iranian version of the Brief COPE, which had adequate internal consistency reliability (α = 0.77), and the intra‐class correlation coefficient was reported as acceptable for scale ( r = 0.76) (Ashktorab, et al., 2017 ).…”