The Effect of Perceived Social Support by Nurses on Their Fear of Death Post–COVID-19 Pandemic Period

Abstract

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic covers a period of quite challenging and various problems for nurses. During the pandemic, most nurses could not spend enough time with their families and social circles and faced death. It is not known whether nurses received adequate social support and the level of fear of death after the COVID-19 pandemic. ObjectiveIn this study, we aimed to examine the perceived social support and fear of death felt by nurses after the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodThis study is descriptive and correlational. We conducted this study with the participation of n = 411 nurses working in a city hospital in Istanbul. We used the personal information form, Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale and The Turkish Death Anxiety Scale for data collection. We used descriptive statistical methods, Paired sample t test, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), PostHoc and Pearson correlation tests for data analysis. ResultsIn this study, 52.1% of the nurses were male, 39.2% lived alone with their children, and 75.5% had cared for COVID-19 patients for more than 2 years in the hospital. Among the nurses, 75.9% worked only during the day. In this study, the perception of social support was higher in nurses who were male, married and chose their profession voluntarily (p < .05). In our study, nurses who had a master's degree or higher level of education, lived with family members, worked with mixed day and night work, and had received COVID-19 vaccine had a higher fear of death. In our study, we found a correlation between perception of social support and fear of death. ConclusionFear of death should be reduced to protect psychological and mental health among nurses after the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, improving social support may be appropriate. Various psychotherapeutic interventions are needed to decrease the fear of death.