Psychological symptoms and coping strategies of nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 pneumonia

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus worldwide, working conditions of medical personnel, specifically nurses, have changed dramatically. Therefore, medical staff have undergone more physical and psychological distress than before. The main purpose of this study was investigating symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression and coping strategies in nurses who worked during COVID-19 pandemic. T This cross-sectional descriptive analytical study was conducted during April and May 2020. Through convenience sampling method, 76 nurses who involved in caring of COVID-19 patients at Ghaem Hospital in Mashhad were selected. They were evaluated by DASS-21 and Billings and Moos coping responses inventories. Mann-Whitney test, Spearman correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis was used by means of SPSS 16.0.  The findings demonstrated that nurses suffered high mental problems. Symptoms of stress were discovered in 48.7%, anxiety in 77.6%, and depression in 60.5% of the nurses; and the main strategy applied by them was emotion-focused types. Regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between psychological distresses and emotion based approaches as well as negative correlation between problem-focused skills and incidence of depression. The COVID-19 outbreak has caused critical conditions and as a result, psychological pressures on nursing staff. Training on problem-solving strategies in nursing community would help to cope with such health related crisis.