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Introduction: Pregnant women are one of the vulnerable groups against COVID-19. Understanding the affected population characteristics helps to identify risk factors and set more effective treatment goals;in this regard, the present study tries to review demographic characteristics, clinical signs, radiological and laboratory findings in pregnant women with COVID-19 in southern Iran. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 30 pregnant women with COVID-19 who were selected from teaching hospitals in Fasa, Jahrom, and Shiraz in Fars province. Sampling was done through the convenience method from March to July 2020. A researcher-made checklist was applied to gather the required data which were analyzed using SPSS 22 software and descriptive statistics. Results: The mean age of patients was 28.30±9.96 years. Of patients, 60% were in the first trimester of pregnancy. The average length of stay in a hospital was 8.47±4.37 days. Fever (46/66 %) was the most common clinical finding, increased C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (50%) was the most common laboratory finding, and Ground Glossy Opacity (GGO) (56/66 %) was the most common radiological finding in both lungs. Of pregnant women, 80% with COVID-19 had an underlying disease. The most common underlying diseases were 36.66% for asthma and 20% for diabetes. Of normal deliveries, 53.33% and 3.33% of neonatal and maternal deaths were reported. Conclusion: The most common time for COVID-19 in pregnant women was reported in the first trimester of pregnancy with clinical signs of fever and a history of asthma and diabetes. Therefore, the findings of this study highlight the importance of paying attention to pregnant women as one of the most at-risk groups in the COVID-19 pandemic. Health policy makers can use the findings of this study and the reported outcomes to develop appropriate health protocols for health care of pregnant women in the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021 by the Author(s).
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Objective: Bank clerks were among the high risk groups in experiencing physiologic and psychological symptoms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. This present study aims to investigate the changes in the knowledge and anxiety of bank clerks during the COVID-19 pandemic, before and after the educational intervention via mobile health technology in the south of Fars province, Iran in 2020. Material and Methods: This present study is a quasi-experimental work with a pretest-posttest design. The participants were recruited according to the lists provided by the bank authorities, and then assigned, through non-random sampling, into a control group from three banks (45 subjects) and 48 subjects from three other banks into intervention group. The intervention group received education via mobile phones, and the control group received the routine information broadcasted by social media. Data were collected using a demographics questionnaire, a researcher-made COVID-19 knowledge questionnaire, and Spielberger’s Anxiety Inventory at baseline (before) and follow-up (two weeks after intervention). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics in Statistical Package for the Social Science version 23. Results: There were no drop-outs of participants during the study phase. The results showed that the mean knowledge score of the participants were improved in the both control and intervention groups, significantly (p-value<0.001), and there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the knowledge scores in pretest and posttest (p-value<0.001 and p-value=0.001, respectively). The results of the t-test also showed that the mean scores of state and trait anxiety levels were increased in the control group (p-value<0.001 and p-value=0.932, respectively), while decreased significantly in the intervention group (p-value<0.001). However, there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the state and trait anxiety levels in pretest and posttest (p-value<0.001). Conclusion: The results show that e-education via mobile phones can help to increase the knowledge, and decrease the anxiety of bank clerks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, it is suggested that this method of education be employed to raise the COVID-19 awareness of the employees in other organizations. Indeed, limitations;such as, low sample size and long-term outcomes should be considered in future studies. © 2022 JHSMR. Hosting by Prince of Songkla University. All rights reserved.
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Introduction: During the current COVID-19 pandemic, nurses, as guardians of public health, have been fighting in the frontline of caring for the infected patients. Nurses' personal and psychological capacities, including resilience and professional commitment, which enable them to cope with difficult conditions and continue providing quality care, should be investigated thoroughly. The present study aimed to compare nurses in practice in COVID-19 units with nurses who are in practice in other hospital units in terms of resilience and professional commitment. Material and methods: This was a descriptive-comparative study. In total, 6914 nurses (3609 nurses from COVID-19 units and 3305 nurses from general units) participated in the study. The study context was 13 hospitals, which were selected from nine cities in Fars and Khuzestan, as the southern provinces of Iran. Results: The findings of the study showed that the professional commitment mean scores of nurses in COVID-19 units and nurses in general units were relatively high, as 45 and 55.5, respectively. Moreover, the resilience mean scores of nurses in COVID-19 units and those in general units were high, 82.5 and 93.5, respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a significant direct relationship between professional commitment and resilience in the nurses in COVID-19 units (r = 0.74, p < 0.001) and nurses in general units (r = 0.57, p < 0.001). Conclusions: In view of the existence of a significant positive relationship between resilience and professional commitment, some measures were designed to increase nurses' resilience that can improve their professional commitment as well.
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Introduction: Nurses as health defenders in the front line of COVID-19 are among the high-risk and vulnerable groups for this disease. Moreover, they experience a lot of anxiety as well as psychological and emotional strain. In such situations, it is extremely important to pay attention to their resilience. Therefore, the present study attempted to compare resilience and anxiety between nurses working in the COVID-19 wards and nurses working in other wards in southern Iran in 2020. Material and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted by complete enumeration, meaning that the sampling process was done in a full-census manner. For the purpose of this study, 1857 nurses (866 nurses working in the COVID-19 wards and 991 nurses working in other wards) were included. To collect the required data, this study applied demographic surveys, the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Results: The mean and standard deviation of the anxiety and resilience scores of nurses working in the COVID-19 wards were 44.11 +/- 7.48 and 73.09 +/- 15.76, respectively. Moreover, the anxiety and resilience scores of nurses working in other wards were 41.57 +/- 6.70 and 75.58 +/- 8.34, respectively. Also, a statistically significant correlation was found between resilience and anxiety (r = -0.47,p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study showed that nurses are dealing with high levels of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was concluded that due to the effect of resilience on the reduction of anxiety, nurse managers must apply the necessary psychological skill programs, in order to enhance psychological capabilities, improve nurses' resilience, and reduce coronavirus anxiety.
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Introduction: Care of patients with coronavirus disease may have an impact on the occupational burnout, resilience, and parenting of nurses. The study was performed to evaluate occupational burnout, resilience, and parenting stress in nurses caring for COVID-19 patients. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was based on Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement. A total of 630 nurses caring for COVID-19 patients in 5 hospitals were selected via convenience sampling. Participants completed the scales online. Data were analyzed in SPSS v. 22. Results: A total of 420 nurses completed and returned the questionnaires. The resilience mean score of the nurses who participated in the present study was 32.33 +/- 2.57 and the occupational burnout mean score was 32.33 +/- 2.57. Also, the parenting stress mean score of the 310 nurses who were married and had children was found to be 17.53 +/- 1.58 during the COVID-19 crisis. Occupational burnout has a negative correlation with resilience and a positive correlation with parenting stress and can predict 61.32% of changes in the occupational burnout variance of nurses Conclusions: Resilience, parenting stress, marital status, number of children, employment status, and gender predicted a high percentage of the nurses' occupational burnout variance. The nurse managers should use these findings to provide appropriate environments for nurses, to develop more comprehensive plans in support of nurses for the current and future crises.