COVID-19 Pandemic and Overall Mental Health of Healthcare Professionals Globally: A Meta-Review of Systematic Reviews.

OBJECTIVE: This meta-review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of overall mental health of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: We conducted a comprehensive literature search on Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and MEDLINE. A predefined eligibility criterion was used to screen the articles. The methodology quality of eligible studies was assessed using Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for systematic reviews. The data were narratively synthesised in line with the meta-review aim. RESULT: Forty systematic reviews (represented as K = 40), which reported data from 1,828 primary studies (N) and 3,245,768 participants, met the inclusion criteria. The findings from a pooled prevalence indicate that anxiety (16-41%, K = 30, N = 701), depression (14-37%, K = 28, N = 584), and stress/post-traumatic stress disorder (18.6-56.5%, K = 24, N = 327) were the most prevailing COVID-19 pandemic-related mental health conditions affecting healthcare workers. Other reported concerns included insomnia, burnout, fear, obsessive-compulsive disorder, somatization symptoms, phobia, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts. Considering regions/countries, the highest anxiety was reported in the United-Kingdom [22.3, 95% Confidence Interval (CI):7-38, N = 4] compared to other countries, while the highest depression was in the Middle-East, (41, 95% CI:16-60, N = 5) and stress in the Eastern Mediterranean region (61.6, 95% CI:56.4-66.8, N = 2) compared to other regions. The most significant risk factors include female gender, younger age, being a nurse, and frontline professional. The most-reported coping strategies include individual/group psychological support, family/relative support, training/orientation, and the adequacy of personal protective equipment. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that healthcare professionals (nurses, doctors, allied health) have experienced various mental health issues during COVID-19 pandemic. The meta-review, therefore, recommends targeted interventions and health policies that address specific mental health issues to support health professionals worldwide during the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and similar future health crises. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD4202126200, identifier: CRD42021262001.

Development of the Nursing Relationships Scale: a measure of interpersonal approaches in nursing care.

BACKGROUND: There is no comprehensive measure of dimensions describing the nursing relationship that is suitable for use with survey samples and that is focused on nursing particular types of patients. The objective of this study was to develop a measure to investigate significant dimensions of the nurse-patient relationship, the Nursing Relationship Scale (NRS). METHODS: Hypothetical cases (diabetes or mental illness) in vignette format were presented to 132 psychiatric and 76 general nurses. Thirty-four questions about the nurse-patient interaction were asked. Principal component analyses (with oblique rotation) were used to identify underlying dimensionality in the correlations of items, combining ratings from the two case vignettes. Scales were constructed from the final solution and Cronbach's alpha coefficients calculated. Subscale score variations were analysed across nurse type and patient type to examine the discriminant validity of the subscales. RESULTS: Principal components analysis revealed five dimensions accounting for 52 percent of the variation within items. Four 'conceptual' factors were derived. These were labeled Caring/Supportive Approach, Nursing Satisfaction, Authoritarian Stance, and Negativity. Developed as subscales, reliability analysis indicated high internal consistency with respective alpha coefficients for the diabetes case 0.91, 0.75, 0.65, and 0.78 and for the mental illness case of 0.91, 0.75, 0.73, and 0.85. There was significant variation in scale scores according to nurse type (psychiatric versus general) and patient type (diabetes versus mental illness). Nurses endorsed more highly items from the subscales Caring/Supportive Approach and Nursing Satisfaction than items from Authoritarian Stance (with intermediate endorsement) and Negativity (lowest endorsement) subscales. CONCLUSIONS: Psychometric evaluation of the NRS suggests it is a reliable instrument for measuring four key dimensions of the nurse-patient relationship and enables the study of this relationship in large samples.