Open AccessNurses’ strategies for dealing with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Elżbieta Szlenk-Czyczerska,
Anna Ławnik,
Adam Szepeluk
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
medical science pulse
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2544-1620
pISSN - 2544-1558
DOI - 10.5604/01.3001.0015.4064
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , pandemic , covid-19 , psychology , emotional support , clinical psychology , nursing , social psychology , social support , medicine , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology
Background: In view of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic, it is important to study the activities undertakenby nurses to cope with stress.Aim of the study: The study’s main objective was to analyze strategies of coping with stress among nursesworking in public and non-public medical institutions in Opolskie and Lubelskie provinces, Poland, duringthe COVID-19 pandemic.Material and methods: The study group included a total of 155 nurses. The Mini-COPE questionnaire andthe author’s original questionnaire were used in the study.Results: With increasing age, nurses coped with stress by using their sense of humor less often, seeking instrumentalsupport, discharge of emotions, using psychoactive substances, and blaming themselves. Respondentswith a master’s degree were more likely to cope with stress by positive reevaluation, turning to religion,and seeking emotional and instrumental support. Examining the effect of job tenure on the level of copingstrategies revealed significant variation for active coping (p=0.0355), sense of humor (p=0.0024), seekingemotional support (p=0.0209), seeking instrumental support (p=0.0062), preoccupation with something else(p=0.0383), discharge (p=0.0075), psychoactive substance use (p=0.0097), and blaming oneself (p=0.0155).There was no significant variation in the effect of place of employment on stress coping strategies.Conclusions: During the pandemic, respondents managed stress mainly through active coping, planning,acceptance, positive reevaluation, and seeking instrumental support. As nurses age, they are more likely touse the strategy of turning to religion. Due to the growing problem of stress, it is necessary to identify andshare information about ways to effectively cope with stress.