COVID-19 Pandemi Sürecinde Yoğun Bakım Hemşirelerinde Aleksitimi, Empati ve Tükenmişlik Düzeyi Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to determine the relationship between in intensive care nurses’ alexithymia, empathic tendency, and burnout levels in the COVID-19 pandemic process.Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted with 170 intensive care nurses. Data were collected with Nurse Information Form, Toronto Alexithymia Scale 20, Empathic Tendencies Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory between February and March 2021 as online.Results: Of the ICU nurses participating in the study, 81.2% were female, mean age were 29.9±6.1 years, 67.6% had bachelor’s degree and 46.5% of them were working in the pandemic ICU. The mean alexithymia was 51.4±10.7 and a quarter of the nurses were alexithymic. Empathic tendencies levels were slightly above average and burnout subdimensions mean were medium. Multiple regression analysis results show that the built regression model is statistically significant (F= 36.4, p< 0.001). Empathy and burnout levels could explain 30% of their alexithymia levels. The ICU nurses’ empathy levels predicted alexithymia levels negatively (β= -0.29, p< 0.001), and burnout levels predicted alexithymia levels positively (β=35, p< 0.001) to a statistically significant degree.Conclusion: It was concluded that intensive care nurses’ the alexithymia scores have a negative correlation with empathic tendencies and a positive correlation with burnout.