Workplace Wellbeing and Quality of Life Perceived by Portuguese Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Protective Factors and Stressors.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses were exposed to many stressors, which may have been associated with some mental health problems. However, most of the studies carried out on nurses' quality of life and workplace wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic took a pathogenic approach. Given that current scientific knowledge in this field presented too many gaps to properly inform preventive and therapeutic action, the aim of this study was to explore whether protective factors (resilience, perceived social support, and professional identification) and stressors (perceived stress and psychosocial risks in the workplace) influenced the quality of life and workplace wellbeing perceived by Portuguese nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data for this cross-sectional study was collected through online self-administered questionnaires. Linear regression models were used to analyze the relationships between variables. Results showed that perceived stress, resilience and job satisfaction were associated with quality of life and workplace wellbeing among Portuguese nurses. The study's findings could serve to inform health policy and should draw the attention of nursing managers to the needs and difficulties reported by nurses, to the importance of providing them with emotional support, and to the relevance of promoting a good work environment.

Protective Factors and Coping Styles Associated with Quality of Life during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of Hospital or Care Institution and Private Practice Nurses.

In France, nurses work either in hospitals and care institutions or in private practice, following physicians' prescriptions and taking care of patients at their homes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these populations of nurses were exposed to numerous sources of stress. The main objective of the present study was to identify the protective factors they mobilized to face the crisis and how these factors contributed to sustaining their quality of life (QoL). A cross-sectional study was conducted to answer these questions. Overall, 9898 French nurses participated in the study, providing demographic information and filling out QoL (WHOQOL-BREF), perceived stress (PSS-14), resilience (CD-RISC), social support (MSPSS), and coping style (BRIEF-COPE) questionnaires. The results revealed very few differences between the two groups of nurses, which is surprising given the drastically different contexts in which they practice. Social support and two coping strategies (positive reframing and acceptance) were associated with a high QoL, whereas perceived stress and four coping strategies (denial, blaming self, substance use, and behavioral disengagement) were associated with poor QoL. In the light of these results, we recommended promoting social support and coping strategies to help nurses cope during the pandemic.

Stressors, self-reported overall health, potential protective factors and the workplace well-being of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland: a longitudinal mixed-methods study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic was making a huge impact on Europe's healthcare systems in the spring of 2020, and most predictive models concurred that pandemic waves were in the offing. Most studies adopted a pathogenic approach to the subject; few used a salutogenic approach. These showed, however, that nurses can retain their health despite a pandemic by mobilising generalised resistance resources. Our study aims to understand how nurses working in Switzerland's hospitals protected their health and workplace well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating the moderating effects of the health resources they mobilised against the stressors inherent to the situation. The study aims to explore and describe the stressors and the resources nurses used to remain healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: We will use a concurrent mixed-methods panel design with qualitative analyses ancillary to quantitative analyses. Quantitative data will be collected using electronic questionnaires at four time points over 2 years. Qualitative data will be collected using focus groups. Nurses from Switzerland's two main linguistic regions who had direct, indirect or no contact with patients with COVID-19 will be invited to participate. The a priori sample size will be at least 3631 participants at T0 and 1852 at T4. Longitudinal structural equation modelling and knowledge mapping will be used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. The results derived from the two data types will then be compared and discussed using a side-by-side approach to determine whether they agree or disagree and how they complement each other to achieve our aims. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Nurses will receive an electronic informed consent form. The data collected will be stored on a secure server at the authors' institution. This research project was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Canton of Vaud (2020-02845).