Emergency stress management among nurses: A lesson from the COVID-19 outbreak in China-a cross-sectional study.

Publisher: Blackwell Scientific Publications Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9207302 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1365-2702 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09621067 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Clin Nurs

Original Publication: Oxford ; Boston : Blackwell Scientific Publications, c1992-

Self Efficacy* ; Social Support*; COVID-19/*psychology ; Emergency Service, Hospital/*statistics & numerical data ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*psychology; Adult ; COVID-19/epidemiology ; China/epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Health/statistics & numerical data ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/statistics & numerical data ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Aims and Objectives: To assess the level of stress response, self-efficacy and perceived social support status of working nurses during the outbreak of the COVID-19 and investigate potential factors affecting their stress.
Background: The stress level of clinical nurses directly affects their physical and mental health and work efficiency.
Design: This study was a cross-sectional investigation, which was performed following the STROBE checklist. The current study was conducted in February 2020 by selecting clinical nurses from the Zigong First People's Hospital for investigation.
Methods: At the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, we assessed clinical nurses with the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire, the General Self-Efficacy Scale and the Perceived Social Support Scale. Specifically, the nurses were divided into three groups: (a) nurses supporting Wuhan; (b) nurses in the department of treating the COVID-19 patients in our hospital (epidemic department); and (c) nurses in the general department without the COVID-19 patients in our hospital (non-epidemic department).
Results: A total of 1092 clinical nurses were surveyed with 94 nurses in Wuhan, 130 nurses treating COVID-19 patients in our hospital and 868 nurses working without direct contact with diagnosed COVID-19 patients. The mean stress score of all surveyed nurses was 33.15 (SD: 25.551). There was a statistically significant difference in stress response scores between different departments. Noticeably, the nurses who went to support in Wuhan showed a weaker stress response than the nurses who stayed in our hospital (mean: 19.98 (Wuhan) vs. 32.70 (epidemic department in our hospital) vs. 34.64 (non-epidemic department in our hospital)). In addition, stress was negatively correlated with general self-efficacy and perceived social support.
Conclusion: The present study suggested that the stress status of second-line nurse without direct contact with diagnosed COVID-19 patients was more severe than that of first-line nurses who had direct contact with COVID-19 patients.
Relevance to Clinical Practice: Our study indicated the importance of psychological status of second-line medical staff during the global pandemic.
(© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

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Keywords: COVID-19; healthcare workers; nurses; self-efficacy; social support; stress

Date Created: 20201103 Date Completed: 20210308 Latest Revision: 20210308

20231215

10.1111/jocn.15553

33141483