Abstract
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic since its onset has had a dramatic and often devastating impact, both physical and psychological, on all healthcare workers. This study aimed to assess the impact of psychological distress that COVID-19 has on nurses, as well as the coping strategies that they employed. This is a cross-sectional national online survey. A total of 859 nurses actively involved in caring for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in Malaysia participated in the study. More than three-quarters of the nurses experienced stress (77.2%). A total of 88.7% and 7.2% of nurses revealed a moderate and high stress level, respectively. Approximately one in eight (12.1%) nurses reported feeling depressed. Nurses working in the outpatient departments reported significantly higher stress levels than nurses working in inpatient care departments. Nurses having chronic health problems reported significantly higher depression levels than nurses with no chronic health problem. Highly stressed or depressed nurses tend to adopt avoidance coping strategies while religion and emotional support were used regardless of the stress or depression levels experienced. The findings of the study provide insight into the mental health and coping strategies of nurses actively involved in caring for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in Malaysia. This would be of tremendous help to nursing administrators in implementing mental health services for nurses during and following the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Highlights
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
The inclusion criterion was nurses actively involved in caring for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in outpatient and inpatient facilities
The primary finding of this nationwide study is that more than three-quarters of the nurses experienced stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding is consistent with studies performed in China [17,18,19]. This implies that stress was significant in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak as the data in this study were collected during the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia
Summary
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. COVID-19 is so highly contagious that by July 2021 it had infected more than 195 million people and caused more than 4 million deaths globally [1] Such a high prevalence of an infectious viral disease would inevitably exert extraordinary pressure on any healthcare system and its workers. Nurses, who are at the frontline of providing life-saving care for COVID-19 patients, are placed at a significantly high risk of experiencing mass traumatization [3]. Their psychological stress is recognized as a real problem [4,5]. The psychological crisis can and will contribute to an adverse impact on the safety and quality of life of nurses [10]
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