The prevalence of negative attitudes towards nurses and depressive symptoms in nurses working in cardiology departments in Malopolska region, preliminary results.

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction A significant increase in negative attitudes towards nurses accompanied by exacerbation of depressive symptoms in nurses working in cardiology departments have been observed. Objective The assessment of the intensity of negative attitudes towards nurses and depressive symptoms experienced by nurses working in cardiology departments in Malopolska region. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted between 2020 and 2022. It was carried out in a group of 130 nurses working in conservative cardiology departments and 72 nurses working in interventional cardiology departments. The nurses were randomly selected from the register of hospital employed nurses of Malopolska Regional Chamber of Nurses and Midwives. The incidence and intensity of negative experiences at work were determined based on NAQ (The Negative Acts Questionnaire) and the incidence and intensity of depressive symptoms were measured by means of Beck’s depression scale. Results Among all the nurses surveyed 58% of them experienced some negative attitudes and the exacerbation of mild, moderate and severe depressive symptoms was observed in 37.1%, 18.3% and 4.5% of respondents respectively; no significant differences were found between conservative cardiology departments and interventional cardiology departments. A positive correlation was observed between the exacerbation of depressive symptoms and negative attitudes towards nurses r=0.335, p<0.001, and this correlation was stronger in interventional cardiology departments r=0.397, p<0.001. The risk of developing depressive symptoms was 3.4 times higher in nurses exposed to negative attitudes than in those who did not experience such behaviours (95% CI: 1.61-7.62). Conclusions The results of this study show that nurses working in cardiology departments in Malopolska region are exposed to negative attitudes and suffer from exacerbated depressive symptoms, which might affect the quality of the patient care they provide.