Analysis of the relationship between fear of coronavirus and hand hygiene beliefs and practices of surgical nurses: A descriptive and cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

AIM: This study aimed to analyse the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and hand hygiene beliefs and practices of surgical nurses. METHOD: This article is a descriptive correlational study. It was conducted between February and May 2021 with 306 surgical nurses working at public and private hospitals in Northern Cyprus. A personal information form, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Hand Hygiene Belief Scale and Hand Hygiene Practices Inventory were used for data collection. RESULTS: Of the participants in the study, 25.41% were 29 years old or younger and 85.15% were female. The mean scores obtained from the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Hand Hygiene Belief Scale and the Hand Hygiene Practices Inventory were 23.12 ± 8.03, 81.33 ± 7.67 and 69.15 ± 1.94, respectively. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale scores were negatively correlated with the Hand Hygiene Belief Scale scores and positively correlated with the Hand Hygiene Practices Inventory scores. CONCLUSION: Hand hygiene practices were better for nurses with higher level of COVID-19 fear. Therefore, a high level of seriousness and awareness of nurses about hand hygiene, which was achieved during the COVID-19 pandemic, should be sustained to maintain proper hand hygiene practices.