Determinants of nurses' fear of COVID-19 in Japan

The purpose of this study was to address the issue of the fear of COVID-19 among nurses and to determine the extent to which three factors affected their fear of COVID-19: (a) personal factors, (b) working conditions, and (c) coping behaviors. We conducted a web-based survey of 152 nurses working in the Tohoku region. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that living with elderly people, working in the small hospital, and working long hours at night affected their fear of COVID-19. The results also revealed that "escape from anxiety" as a coping behavior led to a fear of COVID-19. These results suggested that the fear of becoming a source of infection may increase a nurse's fear of COVID-19 and that the accumulation of physical fatigue may also lead to a fear of COVID-19. In addition, the results suggested that avoidant coping behaviors were related with infection fears, and that organizational support may be able to reduce nurses' fear of COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Fear of COVID-19 infection and related factors in Japan: A comparison of college students, pregnant women, hospital nurses and the general public.

The fear of COVID-19 has become a social problem during the pandemic. The present study compares the fear of COVID-19 among members of the general public, college students, pregnant women, and hospital nurses. It also examines various factors associated with the fear of COVID-19. In this study, we conducted a survey of the general public on fear of infection and related factors and compared from previous studies of college students, pregnant women, and hospital nurses. A crowdsourced survey was administered to 450 members of the general public, who were asked about their fear of COVID-19 infection. Data from college students, nurses, and pregnant women were recruited from a May-June 2020 survey on fear of COVID-19. An analysis of variance was used to compare the fear of infection among different attribution. The results showed that more pregnant women and fewer college students feared infection, as did equal numbers of hospital nurses and members of the general public. The multiple regression analysis revealed that college students and pregnant women associated the fear of infection with their key source of information, while hospital nurses associated the fear of infection with living with an older person. These results suggest that pregnant women have a significant fear of infection, which is further defined by the risk of serious illness in cases of infection. Although the fear of infection is relatively low among hospital nurses, they fear becoming a source of infection. These results reveal the groups in Japan that fear infection and the reasons for their concern. The present study may help to provide psychological support to counteract the fear of infection in vulnerable groups.

Fear of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among pregnant and infertile women in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women and fertility patients are particularly vulnerable to major disease outbreaks. Regarding COVID-19 in particular, much is unclear about the impact on mothers and fetuses. The purpose of this study was to determine the fear of COVID-19 among Japanese pregnant and infertility patients amid the coronavirus disaster. METHODS: An online survey of 292 pregnant Japanese women and 13 Japanese women undergoing fertility treatment was conducted during the COVID-19 epidemic from May 19 to June 6, 2020. All participants responded to the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and risk factors. RESULTS: Japanese pregnant women had higher fear of COVID-19 scores than Japanese fertility patients. In addition, fear of COVID-19 among pregnant women in Japan was positively associated with stockpiling and health monitoring, and an emphasis on websites and social networking sites among pregnant women was associated with lower fear of COVID-19. LIMITATIONS: This study was a cross-sectional survey, which means that it is not possible to determine the causal relationship between fear of COVID-19 and related factors. Additionally, we were not able to research the web and social networking content that pregnant women consider most important. CONCLUSION: Pregnant women in Japan have high levels of anxiety, and websites and social networking sites may be effective in alleviating their anxiety. When communicating information, there will be a need to provide not only accurate information about preventing infectious diseases, but also information that will ease the anxiety of pregnant women.

The Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 scale: Reliability, validity, and relation to coping behavior.

COVID-19 is spreading worldwide, causing various social problems. The aim of the present study was to verify the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and to ascertain FCV-19S effects on assessment of Japanese people's coping behavior. After back-translation of the scale, 450 Japanese participants were recruited from a crowdsourcing platform. These participants responded to the Japanese FCV-19S, the Japanese versions of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the Japanese versions of the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD), which assesses coping behaviors such as stockpiling and health monitoring, reasons for coping behaviors, and socio-demographic variables. Results indicated the factor structure of the Japanese FCV-19S as including seven items and one factor that were equivalent to those of the original FCV-19S. The scale showed adequate internal reliability (α = .87; ω = .92) and concurrent validity, as indicated by significantly positive correlations with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; anxiety, r = .56; depression, r = .29) and Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD; perceived infectability, r = .32; germ aversion, r = .29). Additionally, the FCV-19S not only directly increased all coping behaviors (ß = .21 - .36); it also indirectly increased stockpiling through conformity reason (indirect effect, ß = .04; total effect, ß = .31). These results suggest that the Japanese FCV-19S psychometric scale has equal reliability and validity to those of the original FCV-19S. These findings will contribute further to the investigation of various difficulties arising from fear about COVID-19 in Japan.