COVID-19 Fear Levels and Health Behaviors of Nursing Students During the Pandemic Process: A Comparative Study Conducted in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine the COVID-19 fear levels and health behaviors of nursing students studying in two regions of Turkey during the pandemic process and to develop solutions in this regard. The population of this cross-sectional and descriptive study consisted of nursing students studying at state universities in Diyarbakır, Mardin, Trabzon, and Gümüşhane between January 2021 and May 2021. The minimum number of students from each class was 75 students, and all of the 1200 students who agreed to participate in the study from the universities in these 4 cities based on Mardin were included in the study. The questions on the data of the study and the “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Fear Scale” and the “Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale II” were administered under direct supervision for approximately 20 minutes. Frequencies, mean values, standard deviations, t-test, Mann Whitney U-test, ANOVA, Kruskal Wallis, and correlation tests were used in the analysis of the study data. The mean score on the Fear of Coronavirus Scale of nursing students who did not apply to any health institution in the last 1-2 months, who had any psychological disease, and who thought that they did not do regular diet and regular exercise was found to be high. The mean Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale II scores of nursing students who did not have any psychological diseases, who thought that they had a regular diet and regular exercise, and who did not have sleep problems were found to be high. In the study, COVID-19 fears and healthy lifestyle behaviors of nursing students during the pandemic process were determined at high levels. The nursing students with the greatest fear of COVID-19 were in Diyarbakır, and the nursing students with the highest healthy lifestyle behaviors were in Trabzon.