The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the professional perception and image of nursing among nurses working in surgical units: An online study.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the perception and image of the profession are key factors in nurses' perceptions regarding their roles and their future. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the perception and image of the nursing profession among nurses working in surgical units. METHODS: This cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted with 216 nurses using the random sampling method between 10 and 30 March, 2022. The study data were collected using an information form, the Perception of Nursing Professional Scale (PNPS), and the Scale for the Image of the Nursing Profession. RESULTS: The nurses' mean age was 32.53±9.16 years (min 21, max 57) and their mean professional experience was 16.44±9.80 years (min 1, max 44). The mean PNPS score was 73.12±9.46, and the mean Scale for the Image of the Nursing Profession score was 171.11±11.16. Female nurses had significantly higher positive perception of nursing levels than male nurses. Gender, having a history of COVID-19, marginalization during the pandemic, and perception of the nursing profession significantly affected image perceptions of nursing at multiple linear regression analysis. These variables explained 43% of the total variance. CONCLUSION: Nurses working in surgical units during the COVID-19 pandemic exhibited a good level of professional and image perception concerning nursing.

Exploring anxiety levels in healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic: Turkey sample.

As in the whole world, the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic poses many threats to healthcare workers in our country too, which leads to anxiety in healthcare workers. This study was conducted to explore the anxiety levels of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is a cross-sectional study. The population consisted of health care workers employed in hospitals in seven regions in Turkey. All volunteer healthcare workers were included in the study, and 356 healthcare workers responded to the questionnaire. The data were collected using the State Anxiety Inventory and a questionnaire created by the researchers using an online questionnaire between 10 May 2020 and 15 May 2020. In the evaluation of the data, mean, standard deviation, percentages, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis were used. 33% of healthcare workers did not have anxiety, 50% had mild, and 17% had severe anxiety. The anxiety scores of those who were nurses (p < 0.001), who were working in the emergency room (p < 0.001), who were involved in treatment for COVID-19 patients (p = 0.040), who left their homes to prevent transmission to their families and relatives during the pandemic (p = 0.038), and whose working hours had changed (p = 0.036) were found to be significantly higher. It was observed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the fear of death and disease transmission, uncertainty, loneliness, anger, and hopelessness, and anxiety levels in healthcare workers. The main factors that significantly affected the anxiety levels of healthcare workers were male gender, weekly working hours, the presence of chronic diseases, and feelings of anger and uncertainty. In conclusion, during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers experienced some negative emotions, their anxiety levels increased, and they were psychologically affected. Planning psychosocial interventions for healthcare workers in the high-risk group will make significant contributions to the health system.

The effect of COVID-19 anxiety levels of healthcare professionals on the quality of working life and related factors.

AIM: This study aims to determine the effect of COVID-19 anxiety levels of healthcare professionals on their working life quality. METHOD: The sample of the descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study consisted of healthcare professionals working in two university hospitals in western Turkey between May and July 2021. We used the "Personal Information Form, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, and Working Life Quality Scale" as data collection tools. We used numbers and percentage calculations, arithmetic mean, median (25th-75th percentile), Mann-Whitney U test, Spearmen correlation analysis and Linear Regression analysis to analyse the data. RESULTS: The mean score on the Quality of Life Scale of healthcare professionals was 3.74 ± 0.28, and the mean score on the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) was 9.66 ± 6.06 (min. 0; max. 20). We found a negative and weakly significant relationship between the mean score of the CAS of healthcare professionals and the mean score of the employee quality of life scale. According to the results of the multiple linear regression analysis, we found the factors significantly affecting the anxiety states of healthcare professionals related to the Coronavirus are the quality of working life, age, sex and the state of caring for a patient with COVID-19. CONCLUSION: As a conclusion of this study, it was determined that healthcare professionals experienced anxiety, and anxiety decreased as ages, working years and the number of children they have increased. In addition, it was determined that as the anxiety of healthcare professionals increased, the quality of working life decreased.

The relationship between anxiety levels and anger expression styles of nurses during COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: This study was carried out in a cross-sectional and correlational design to explore the relationship between anxiety levels and anger expression styles of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The sample of this cross-sectional and correlational type of study consisted of 618 nurses calculated with the snowball sampling method. The data were collected using a questionnaire developed by the researchers, the state anxiety inventory, and the trait anger and anger expression scale and was conducted between May 10 and 20, 2020 using an online questionnaire form. Percentage, mean, standard deviation, the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to evaluate the data. RESULTS: The mean age of nurses was 34.98 ± 8.36 years (min: 20; max: 53), 87.4% were women, and 81.7% experienced a high level of anxiety. The anger scores of the participants were found to be 20.04 ± 4.43, the anger-in score was 15.55 ± 3.34, the anger-out score was 14.01 ± 2.87, and the anger control score was 22.93 ± 3.6. Being married, the presence of chronic disease, living in the Marmara region, working shifts, presence of an individual over 65 years of age at home, and having a COVID-19 test were found to be risk factors that significantly increase nurses' anxieties. A significant positive relationship was found between the anxiety scores, trait anger (r = 0.249, p = 0.000), anger-in (r = 0.174, p = 0.000) and anger-out (r = 0.205, p = 0.000) scores of nurses, and a significant negative relationship was found between the anxiety scores and anger control (r = 0.249, p = 0.000) score. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that in the COVID-19 pandemic the anxiety levels of the nurses were high and that the high anxiety level negatively affected the style of anger expression, but the nurses were successful in maintaining anger control. In line with these results, it is important that nurses develop effective coping strategies to reduce their anxiety levels and that they receive increased levels of support in managing anger expression.

Burnout levels and sleep quality of COVID-19 heroes.

PURPOSE: This study was carried out to determine the burnout levels and sleep quality of nurses in the coronavirus disease-2019 process. DESIGN AND METHODS: The population of this descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of all nurses working in hospitals in Turkey. FINDINGS: Nurses' mean scores were compared by gender. The emotional burnout and personal achievement scores of male nurses were higher than those of female nurses. Single nurses had significantly higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores than married individuals. Nurses mostly experienced emotional exhaustion, and burnout levels increased in line with insomnia. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Nurses struggling on the frontline during the pandemic were determined to be at risk of insomnia and burnout.