Abstract
Objective: We aimed to assess the level of fear among nurses in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 outbreak.Methods: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted from June to August 2020. All nurses currently working in public and private hospitals in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic were invited to complete an online survey. We used the 7-item unidimensional Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) to assess the level of fear of COVID-19. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify predictors associated with fear of COVID-19.Results: A total of 969 nurses participated in this study. The participants were relatively young with a mean age of 35.5 ± 10.46 years. About two-thirds of the participants were women (65.9%), married (57.2%), and were non-Saudi nationals (67%). The total mean score for the FCV-19S was 19.7 SD 7.03 (range 7–35), which is near the mid-point, indicating a moderate level of fear of COVID-19. Out of the eight variables measured in the analysis, three variables emerged as a significant predictor (i.e., gender, marital status, and age). A higher level of fear (FCV-19S) was associated with being a woman, married, and older age (p ≤ 0.05).Conclusion: This study demonstrated the level of fear of COVID-19 among nurses in Saudi Arabia. Overall, nurses in Saudi reported moderate levels of fear of COVID-19. Assessing the level of fear of nurses who work during the COVID-19 pandemic should be a priority to health care administrators to prevent mental health difficulties or psychological injury.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has caused a significant burden globally
Psychological distress, burnout, and psychosomatic symptoms were reported by health care providers especially those physicians, nurses, and other health care providers that are at the forefront of defense against COVID-19 (Barello et al, 2020; Giusti et al, 2020; Marton et al, 2020)
The proportion of the nurses who had been in the organization in
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has caused a significant burden globally. The increasing number of patients with COVID-19 had posed a great impact on health care providers nurses who comprise the largest group of health professionals (Fernandez et al, 2020; Goh et al, 2021). Nurses have multiple roles in this outbreak such as dealing with suspected patients, triaging patients, detecting suspected cases with infections, and providing essential treatment to patients with COVID-19 (Baskin and Bartlett, 2021). The long working hours and extrashift to meet the patients with COVID-19 and the unique needs of the family pose a huge health risk to nurses (Nie et al, 2020). Nurses who are directly involved in treating patients with COVID-19 work under great pressure and stress
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