Is coronavirus - COVID-19 stress effective in self-protection behavior?

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 first occurred in Wuhan on December 29, 2019, soon became a global epidemic worldwide, hit 14 5 million people by this time, and caused over 600 thousand deaths For reducing the possibility of COVID-19 transmission and infection, individual and population-based protective measures known as non-drug interventions should be taken Healthcare workers, mainly working in COVID-19 case units, are exposed to a high risk of infection and are psychologically affected Besides, they worry about transmitting the disease to themselves, their friends, and their families This study aims to determine the relationship between stress and self-protection behaviors of nurses working in a university hospital towards COVID-19 Methods: Fifty-six nurses who agreed to participate in the survey between April 1, 2020, and April 30, 2020, were included In the study, a structured questionnaire and the Perceived Stress Scale, which consists of two parts, were applied to measure stress Single analyzes determined frequencies and distributions of the data Chi-square test for categorical variables, T-test, and ANOVA for continuous variables were used Results: The participants' self-protection behavior score average was 11 98 ± 1 60 An increase was observed as the education level rose, and ASD decreased It is a typical situation regarding the pandemic's intense working conditions and concerns, such as getting sick and transmitting the disease to others It was discovered that the educated ones had better self-protection behaviors Conclusions: According to the conclusion, the training is required to reduce stress and enable individuals to take self-responsibility in self-protection