Abstract
There have been numerous concerns regarding the physical and mental health of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stress, sleep deprivation, anxiety, and depression potentiated nurses’ vulnerability to poor eating habits. Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the differences between nurses’ characteristics with COVID-19 facility designation, and sleep quality, depression, anxiety, stress, eating habits, social bonds, and quality of life. Design: A cross-sectional, comparative study. Methods: An online survey was sent using the corporation’s email to nurses working in three hospitals in Qatar from September to December 2020. One of them is a designated COVID-19 facility. The sleep quality, depression, eating habits, social bonds, and quality of life were measured using The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21), Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ), Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), respectively. Results: A total of 200 nurses participated in the study (RR: 13.3%). No statistically significant association was found between designated facility (COVID-19 vs. not COVID-19) or nurses’ characteristics and ISI categories (OR 1.15; 95% CI 0.54, 2.44). Nurses working in COVID-19 facilities had increased odds of having higher EEQ categories by 2.62 times (95% CI 1.18, 5.83). Similarly, no statistically significant associations were found between any of the nurses’ characteristics and OSSS-3 categories. On the other hand, no statistically significant associations were found between any of the nurses’ characteristics and QOL domains except for the gender and social relationships’ domain. Conclusion: Overall, the quality of life of nurses in Qatar is on a positive level whether they are assigned to a COVID-19 facility or not. Although no significant difference was found with regard to the sleep quality, stress, anxiety, depression, and eating habits between nurses in a COVID-19 facility and in a non-COVID-19 facility, special interventions to diminish stressors need to be implemented and maintained.
Highlights
Qatar is one of the wealthiest, most multicultural countries in the world, with a rapidly growing population representing over 80 nationalities
While multiple studies have been published on sleep quality and depression, to our knowledge this is the first study to investigate eating habits, social support, and quality of life among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic
There were no significant differences in sleep quality, stress, anxiety, depression, and perceived social support between nurses working in COVID-19 and nonCOVID-19 facilities in Qatar, and this might be explained by several possible factors such as the level of support provided by the nursing management or the “timing”, as the survey was disseminated after the first wave where the nurses started to adapt to the “new normal”, especially in the absence of a proper pre-pandemic control group
Summary
Qatar is one of the wealthiest, most multicultural countries in the world, with a rapidly growing population representing over 80 nationalities. A recent meta-analysis found a high prevalence of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the general public (37%, 35%, 43%, respectively), which is higher than that of previous epidemics such as MERS and SARS. This could be because of the high contagiousness and fatality of the virus causing millions of deaths worldwide [12,13].
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