The Relationship Between Nurse's Professional Quality of Life, Mindfulness, and Hardiness: A Cross-Sectional Study During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Background: In the pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease, various factors, such as workplace factors, and psychological variables, can affect the occupational status of nurses. This study aimed to assess the relationship between nurses' professional quality of life, mindfulness, and hardiness during the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 239 nurses from two medical centers in Rafsanjan, Iran. Quota sampling was performed from August to November 2020. A demographic form, the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL), the Freiburg Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form (FMI-SF), and the Occupational Hardiness Questionnaire (OHQ) were used to collect data. Results: The mean age of the participants was 33.20 ± 6.85 years. The majority of the participants were female, married, and employed. Compassion Satisfaction (CS), Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), and Burnout (BO) were all moderate among nurses. Hardiness was the best predictor of compassion satisfaction. Mindfulness was the best predictor of both secondary traumatic stress and burnout. Psychological hardiness and mindfulness had the greatest impact on nurses' quality of professional life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Caring for COVID-19 patients may lead to BO, CF, and STS; identifying predictors of these can inform the development of interventions to mitigate or minimize BO, CF, and STS in nurses caring for these patients. Furthermore, in order to improve nurses' quality of professional life, psychological hardiness, and mindfulness, necessary psychological programs and interventions should be designed and implemented.

Burnout, Anxiety, Stress, and Depression Among Iranian Nurses: Before and During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Nurses are the major healthcare workforce in an epidemic and have the most contact with patients. Frontline nurses face many health challenges during the COVID-19 epidemic, are directly at risk when treating and caring for COVID-19 patients, and thus experience severe stress and problems in the workplace leading to physical, mental, and social disorders, as well as burnout, anxiety, stress, and depression. The purpose of this study was to compare burnout, anxiety, stress, and depression in nurses before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a cross sectional study. We assessed 266 frontline nurses before and 242 frontline nurses during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with one year apart in 2019 and 2020 (two-stage sampling). The data were collected using demographic questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) in public hospitals in Southern Iran. Results: There were no significant differences between groups in subscales of burnout (p > 0.05). Anxiety, stress and depression scores significantly increased during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with before the COVID-19 outbreak (p < 0.05). There were significant differences between groups in level of anxiety (p < 0.001) and stress (p = 0.04). Before the COVID-19 outbreak, burnout predicted 11, 15, and 13% of the variance of anxiety, stress and depression, respectively. In addition, stress, monthly working hours and shift were variables that predicted 16% of the variance of burnout before COVID-19. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that burnout during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic did not change significantly compared with before COVID-19. Anxiety, stress and depression increased significantly first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Is nurses' clinical competence associated with their compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress? A cross-sectional study.

Aim: The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between clinical competence and subscale of professional quality of life (ProQOL). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2018 to May 2019 on 291 nurses working in public hospitals in south Iran (Rafsanjan). The nurses were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were collected using the ProQOL questionnaire that included three subscales: compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress and burnout and the Competency Inventory for Registered Nurse (CIRN) that measured clinical competence. Results: A significant positive relationship was observed between compassion satisfaction and clinical competence. A significant negative association was found between compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress/burnout and also between secondary traumatic stress and clinical competence. The results of regression analysis indicated that compassion satisfaction was the best predictor of secondary traumatic stress (R2 = 65%), burnout (R2 = 40%) and clinical competence (R2 = 12%). Moreover, secondary traumatic stress was found to be the best predictor of compassion satisfaction (R2 = 53%).

Compassion Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue and Hardiness Among Nurses: A Comparison Before and During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

BACKGROUND: Nurses provide the majority of health-care services and face numerous health challenges during an epidemic. During the COVID-19 epidemic, nurses are subjected to physical, mental, and social disorders that impair their quality of life and hardiness. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the situation of nurses. The current study aimed to compare the compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and hardiness among nurses before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 508 clinical nurses from one public hospital in southern Iran. The subjects were recruited using census sampling methods in 2019-2020. Sampling was performed before (n = 266) and during the COVID-19 (n = 242) with a 1-year interval. Although, the study setting was the same before and during the COVID-19, questionnaires were completed by different nurses before and during the COVID-19. Demographic questionnaire, professional quality of life (ProQOL) questionnaire and Occupational Hardiness Questionnaire were used to collect data. RESULTS: The scores of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and hardiness did not differ significantly during the COVID-19 compared with before the COVID-19 (p > 0.05). Before COVID-19, hardiness and work experience predicted 11% of the variance of compassion satisfaction, whereas during COVID-19, hardiness and gender predicted 26% of the variance of compassion satisfaction. Before COVID-19, hardiness and work experience predicted 3% of the variance of compassion fatigue, whereas during COVID-19, hardiness, type of employment and gender predicted 6% of the variance of compassion fatigue. CONCLUSION: The current study found that compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and hardiness did not change during the COVID-19 outbreak compared with before the COVID-19 outbreak. However, during the COVID-19, the hardiness was a significant predictor of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. The study results showed that it was possible to increase the compassion satisfaction and reduce the compassion fatigue by strengthening the hardiness of nurses. However, these results need to be considered in future studies, especially in crises such as COVID-19 disease.

The Relation Between Sacral Angle and Vertical Angle of Sacral Curvature and Lumbar Disc Degeneration: A Case-Control Study.

The purpose of this study is to determine the reliability and validity of a goniometric measurement of the vertical angle of the sacrum and sacral angle (SA), and their relationships to lumbar degeneration.A herniated lumbar disc is one of the most frequent medical issues. Investigators in a number of studies have reported associated risk factors for prevalent disc degeneration. Atypical lumbosacral angles and curvature are thought to contribute to the degradation of the spine by many researchers. This study analyzed 360 patients referred to our clinic from 2013 to 2015 due to low back pain. A cross-sectional case-control study was designed in order to compare the sagittal alignment of the lumbosacral area in 3 groups of patients suffering from LBP. A total 120 patients were in a control group with a normal lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 120 patients had lumbar disk herniation (LDH), and 120 patients had spinal stenosis. From the sagittal plan of lumbar MRI, SA and vertical angle of sacral curvature (VASC) were determined and then analyzed.The means of VASC in these groups were: 38.98 (SD: 6.36 ±â€Š0.58), 40.89 (SD: 7.69 ±â€Š0.69), and 40.54 (SD: 7.13 ±â€Š0.92), respectively (P = 0.089). Moreover, studies of SA in 3 groups showed that the means of SA were: 39.30 (SD: 6.69 ±â€Š0.63), 40.52 (SD: 7.47 ±â€Š0.65), and 35.63 (SD: 6.07 ±â€Š0.79), respectively. Relation between SA and spinal stenosis was just statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05).One significant limitation of our study is the lack of standing MRI for increased accuracy of measurement. However, we were reluctant to give patients needless exposure to radiation from conventional X-ray, and instead used MRI scans. We did not find any significant correlation between the VASC and LDH in lumbar MRI. Also, SA is not an independent risk factor for LDH in men and women. We suggested that there are several biomechanical factors involved in LDH.