ABSTRACT
A pandemic's reach is broad, deep, layered-both as an infectious agent and as the psychological force that will be explored by the author in this paper. The disorder it creates and the sorrow it leaves in its wake can be found in traces of its existence that remain in written works generated in the time after the pandemic is thought to be over. The author draws from creative texts by imaginative writers and Freud written in the period after the 1918-1920 pandemic. This paper is intended to create an experience in reading that introduces ways in which we can look for the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in our own writing.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Pandemics , Humans , Imagination , WritingABSTRACT
There is a widespread narrative today that, due to climate change, we are living in the end of times. What does this apocalyptic narrative tell us about our relation to death? A peculiarity with the climate discourse is that “we”, i.e., mankind, are given a position that is both external and internal to the problems described. On the one hand, there is an all-encompassing apocalyptic mood, on the other hand, death appears as a scandal, something we had abolished. In order to capture this peculiarity, the article adopts the narratological concept of the “focalizer”. After comparing the way climate change is addressed by the philosophers Martin Hägglund and Roy Scranton, respectively, the article turns to Hermann Broch’s novel The Death of Virgil (1945). Here, another perspective on dying and the end of civilization may be found. In that way, Broch’s novel provides a much needed perspective on today’s apocalyptic narratives. With Broch, one may argue that the end of the world takes place all the time.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although mental health disorders of health care workers in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have been focused, little is known about the psychological impact on nurses and the influence on their behavior and awareness, such as professionalism and views on life and death, in Japan where there are fewer cases of infection and deaths than in other countries. Moreover, the influence of the pandemic on nursing students is still unclear. METHODS: An online questionnaire survey was conducted among nurses and nursing students. Feelings during the state of emergency (at the peak of the pandemic) in Japan, changes in behavior and awareness after the rise of COVID-19, and the associated factors influencing these changes were analyzed, comparing nurses with nursing students. RESULTS: Significantly increased scores of anxiety/fear (p < .005) and voluntary restraint (p < .005) and significantly decreased score of motivation (p < .005) were observed during the state of emergency in both nurses and students. Scores of experience of discrimination (p < .005) and consideration of premature retirement (p < .01) were significantly increased in nurses. Moreover, preventive behavior (p < .005), lifestyle (p < .005), anxiety about nursing (p < .005) and views on life and death (p < .005) significantly changed after the rise of COVID-19 in both nurses and students. Only nurses reported significant damage to their professionalism (p < .01). Anxiety/fear and/or voluntary restraint and/or decreased motivation during the state of emergency were major factors associated with these changes. Also, the type of hospital, experience of care of infected patients and sex affected some of the changes. Voluntary restraint (p = .008), increased preventive behavior (p = .021) and decreased motivation (p = .005) were more marked in nurses than in students, while change in views on life and death was greater in students than in nurses (p = .002). CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a psychological impact on nurses and nursing students, associated with changes in behavior and awareness even in Japan. Of note, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nurses' professionalism and views on life and death. This study demonstrates the importance of having a coping strategy for anxiety and damaged professionalism in nurses, and education on life and death in nursing students.