Concern about contagion and distress in intensive care unit (ICU) nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Motherhood as moderator.

The aim of this research is to analyze the role that children play between fear of contagion and distress in intensive care unit (ICU) nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking into account possible work stressors. Cross-sectional study using an online survey. The selection of the sample was carried out by means of a non-probabilistic sampling for convenience, sending the link to professionals of the Spanish healthcare system who had been in contact with COVID-19 patients. Social networks were also used. Data was collected from May to July 2020. Mothers were selected from among the female nurses for participation in this study. The sample was composed of 283 female nurses working in critical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Distress levels were significantly lower (F = 2.372, p = .048) in women with children over the age of 16 (M = 8.26, SD = 4.44) than in those without them (M = 10.30;DT = 3.75) (cohabitants). No differences were observed in worries about contagion between nurses with children (either under or over 16 years of age) and without children at home. The regression analysis found significant direct positive contributions of worries about contagion (p = .025) and the presence of children living at home (p = .033) on distress levels. We found a moderating effect of having children over 16 years old living at home in this relationship (ß = 2.198, t = 2.422, p = .016, 95 percentCI = .406-3.992). Our results suggest higher levels of distress in ICU nurses who are working-mothers during COVID-19 pandemic. Living at home with children over 16 years of age has a moderating effect. Our study results point to the need to create action protocols that prepare the health system for outbreaks including early care actions with special emphasis on higher risk groups.

Intensive care unit professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: social and work-related variables, COVID-19 symptoms, worries, and generalized anxiety levels.

BACKGROUND: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 outbreak has been identified as a pandemic and global health emergency. It presents as a severe acute respiratory disease. The rapid dissemination of the disease created challenges for healthcare systems and forced healthcare workers (HCWs) to deal with many clinical and nonclinical stresses. The aim of our research is to describe work conditions, symptoms experienced by HCWs, worries about contagion, and generalized anxiety symptoms and compare those findings across regions in Spain. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey. Critical care units throughout Spain were included. The sample comprised HCWs working in intensive care units from March to May 2020. We assessed work variables, physical symptoms, worries about contagion, and anxiety (generalized anxiety disorder-7 questionnaire). RESULTS: The final sample comprised 448 surveys. Among the respondents, 86.9% (n=389) were nursing professionals, and 84.8% (n=380) were women. All participants cared for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients during the study period. Workload during the pandemic in Madrid was judged to be higher than in other regions (P<0.01). The availability of personal protective equipment was found to be higher in Cataluña. The most frequently experienced symptom was headaches (78.1%). Worries about self-infection and the possibility of infecting others received mean scores of 3.11 and 3.75, respectively. Mean scores for generalized anxiety levels were 11.02, with 58.7% of the professionals presenting with generalized anxiety syndrome during the assessment. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found high levels of anxiety among HCWs caring directly for COVID-19 patients, which could produce long-term psychological alterations that still need to be assessed.

Stress and quality of life of intensive care nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic: Self-efficacy and resilience as resources.

BACKGROUND: Health care workers employed in the COVID-19 emergency are at a high risk of stress. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore the mediating roles of self-efficacy and resilience between stress and both physical and mental quality-of-life components in intensive care nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey design. METHODS: The stress subscale (depression, anxiety, and stress scale in Spanish Scale, DASS-21), the summary components (physical and mental) of health-related quality of life (SF-36), the general self-efficacy scale (GSES), and the resilience scale (RS-14) were administered in 308 intensive care nurses. Serial multiple mediator models were used. RESULTS: There was a significant indirect effect of levels of perceived stress on both physical and mental health components through self-efficacy and resilience. Specifically, greater perception of self-efficacy was associated with a lower perception of stress and greater resilience, while higher resilience was associated with greater physical and mental health (B = -0.03; SE = 0.02; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [-0.07, -0.01]; B = -0.03, SE = 0.01, 95% CI = [-0.07, -0.01], respectively). It was observed that self-efficacy alone also mediates the relationship of the perception of stress on the components of physical and mental health (B = -0.07; SE = 0.05; 95% CI = [-0.18, -0.03]; B = -0.09; SE = 0.04; 95% CI = [-0.17, -0.24], respectively). However, resilience alone was not a significant mediator of these associations. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that stress is linked to the physical and mental health components related to quality of life through self-efficacy and resilience. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: These psychological resources would allow the nursing staff to maintain a good quality of life despite high levels of stress. These findings have implications for future research in terms of both model testing and clinical application.

Resilience and anxiety among intensive care unit professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The situation of the COVID-19 global pandemic has generated an unprecedented state of emergency worldwide that has had a psychological impact on health care workers working in the ICU and this has created the need to implement different psychological strategies. AIM: This study explores (a) the prevalence of symptoms associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), (b) the relationship between GAD symptoms and resilience skills, and (c) which of the resilience skills were associated with a probable GAD among the ICU professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey design. METHODS: We explored anxiety and resilience in 448 ICU health care workers using an online survey. RESULTS: The participants showed high resilience levels and more than half of them presented symptoms consistent with a possible diagnosis of GAD. The GAD symptoms were more prevalent among women, nursing assistants, interns, staff who worked on rotation and health care workers who had to attend to more than 20 COVID patients. Significant negative correlations between resilience skills and GAD symptoms were found. The multiple regression analysis showed that resilience skills contribute to 14.4% of the variance for GAD symptoms. The binary logistic regression showed that the only skill that had a significant and negative predictive effect was "I usually take things in my stride" (OR = 0.774, 95% CI 0.67, 0.88; P = .000). This ability was the differentiating skill between professionals who equal or exceed the cut-off point established for the diagnosis of a probable GAD regarding those who do not. CONCLUSION: ICU professionals developed symptoms consistent with a possible diagnosis of GAD due to their exposure to extremely stressful circumstances. However, resilience skills acted as a protective factor. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The importance of incorporating programmes that mitigate these psychological effects and to promote adaptive coping styles during pandemics has become a need after what ICU professionals have gone through.