Nurses' bereavement experiences of a deceased colleague due to COVID-19: A phenomenological study.

AIM: Healthcare workers have little time to mourn due to the intensification of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although grief is a normal part of life and death, the circumstances surrounding the death can affect the grieving process. So far, the nurses' experience in mourn for a deceased colleague in the COVID-19 pandemic has not been determined. Identifying these experiences can provide opportunities to formulate appropriate strategies to functionally adapt to death and promote mental health and well-being during this crisis. This study aimed to understand the nurses' experiences in mourning for a deceased colleague due to COVID-19. DESIGN: This was an interpretive phenomenological study. METHOD: Participants included 10 nurses with the bereavement experience following the death of a colleague due to COVID-19, who were selected through purposive sampling, and the data were collected through in-depth and semi-structured interviews and analysed using Diekelmann et al.'s (1989) approach. RESULTS: The nurses' bereavement experiences were in the form of eight themes: disbelief and amazement, acceptance with grief, lasting sadness, unsung laments, bringing back memories, impulse to leave the service, a professional myth and holy death. For nurses, mourning for the death of a colleague due to COVID-19 is like a lasting sadness that begins with disbelief and amazement and changes to acceptance with sadness. From the fellow nurses' point of view, this type of death was perceived as a holy death, which along with countless unsung laments and memories brought to us the association of a professional legend, and that such a fate would be inevitable for us as well, it was a push to leave the service. PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Crisis managers and policymakers need to add protocols and training programs for resilience skills and healthy mourning.

Occupational Mental Health: A Study of Work-Related Mental Health among Clinical Nurses.

OBJECTIVE: This paper reports a study performed to investigate and assess the mental health as well as the demographic characteristics of nurses to examine their mental health status based on four physical, anxiety, social-function and depression items. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was accomplished on 86 nurses working at three hospitals, affiliated to Iranian health ministry, in Ilam city(western Iran) all the cases were selected by purposeful sampling method. Data was collected by a two-part questionnaire containing individual data and GHQ -28 Standardized Questionnaire. The GHO-28 was developed by Goldberg, in 1978, as a screening tool to detect those likely to have or be at risk of developing psychiatric disorders. The GHQ-28 is a 28-item measure of emotional distress in medical settings. Analysis was done by SPSS 18 software. RESULTS: The majority of participants were females(50.6 vs.49.4) of 35-40 years old(27.2% ), 84 percent were married(vs.16%), 35.8 percent with 10-15 years of record(vs.33.3% less than 5), 22.2% with 5-10, and 8.6% with more than 15-years of work record. The majority of participants have worked in surgical wards of hospitals. The analysis of GHQ results showed that 43.2%(n=35) of participants were suspected to suffer from mental disorders(vs.56.8% n=46 healthy participants); of all the suspected cases, 12.3% were supposed to have physical symptoms, 16% anxiety symptoms, 42% social dysfunction, and 6.2% symptoms of depression. In general, the participants demonstrated a Mean±SD of mental health score equal to 23.65±9.43. CONCLUSION: Research results showed that the high prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms among nurses is alarming. It was concluded that providing efficient adequate and appropriate support services for this group can result in more healthy nurses as well as promotion of public health.

Evaluation of the Nurses' Job Satisfaction, and Its Association with Their Moral Sensitivities and Well-being.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Several researchers have described the nurses' work as stressful and that the incidence of the occupational stress-related burnout in the profession was high. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between the nurses' satisfaction, their psychosocial work environment, the levels of their reported moral sensitivities and their well - being in Iran. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This descriptive-correlation study was performed at the ILAM general hospitals, IR, during the year 2011. The research instruments which were used were the Psychosocial Work Environment (PWE), the Moral Sensitivity (MS) and the well-being profile of the nurses. A sample of 120 Registered Nurses (RN) were enrolled in the study by using a simple random sampling method. The descriptive statistics and the Pearson's correlation test were performed by using SPSS. RESULT: The relationship of the nurses' satisfaction and their psychosocial work environment was moderate (M=106.5, SD= 7.2) . The nurses' moral sensitivity was moderate (M=112.3, SD= 11.2).This study found that there were significant correlations between the PWE factors score and the MS subscale (P< 0.05, p<0.01). In addition, significant correlations were found between the nurses' well-being and the PWE factors (P< 0.05, p<0.01). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These findings proved that the nurses perceived their PWE as stressful. The supporting nurses may have a positive effect on their perceptions of well-being. The attending nurses reported less physical symptoms, reduced anxiety and fewer feelings of not being in control.