Psychosocial responses to COVID-19 among nurses in two hospitals: a mixed method study at Eastern Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Most documented studies have focused on mental health status of health care workers during the pandemic but there are very few studies, focusing on mitigation of mental health problems among nurses. AIM: To study psychosocial responses to COVID-19 and the effectiveness of intervention among nurses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A mixed-method study was conducted, including 278 nurses from two COVID-19 hospitals of the province by purposive sampling. Depression, anxiety and stress and a composite measure of personal financial burden scales for quantitative; and interview guide for qualitative data were used. A psychosocial strengthening session was introduced and the effectiveness of the program was assessed after 4-5 weeks of intervention. RESULTS: Mild, moderate and severe depression was found among 13.7%, 9.4% and 1.1% of the participants correspondingly. Mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe anxiety was found among 21.2%, 8.6%, 3.2% and 2.2% of the participants respectively. Stress was mild among 9% and moderate in 1.4% of the participants. Lack of PPE and fear of transmitting infection were found as frequent causes of problems. Mean scores of depression, anxiety and stress were significantly decreased after the psychosocial strengthening program. CONCLUSION: Depression, anxiety and stress are common issues of nurses. Common causes of problems were lack of resources, fear of being infected and fear of transmitting to family members. The psychosocial strengthening program was effective in reducing the problems.

Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Nurses Providing Care to the COVID-19 Patients: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Addressing adequately the mental health during and after COVID-19, as well as preparation for possible future outbreaks, requires an understanding of the nature and extent of mental health impacts, factors related to negative mental health outcomes and symptoms of mental illness. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among nurses providing care to the COVID-19 patients. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from 10th April 2021 to 30th June 2021 among 301 nurses from three COVID-19 dedicated hospitals using self-administered questionnaires. Whole sampling technique was used. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Review Board of Nepal Health Research Council (Registration number: 106/2021P). The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16. Descriptive statistics like frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were calculated. RESULTS: Out of 301 nurses, the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was 258 (85.72%), 189 (62.80%) and 151 (49.84%) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The study has shown a higher prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among nurses in comparison to other studies in the similar settings. A quick assessment of the mental health status and mental health requirements of nurses would be helpful in responding to and reducing psychological distress in the crisis situation. The mental health status of nurses should thus be closely monitored by the employing health institutions including managing their workload, providing emotional support and responding to their personal needs.