Comparison of Mental Health of Nurses Working in COVID-19 Reference Hospitals with Other Hospitals

Mental health of nurses working in Covid-19 wards may be at risk due to special conditions of the workplace and patients. Therefore, the present study was conducted to compare the mental health of nurses working in Covid-19 hospitals with other hospitals.

This descriptive-comparative study was performed on nurses working in the COVID-19 involved and non-involved wards of Sabzevar, Iran in May 2020. Using available sampling, 122 nurses (60 nurses in the Covid-19 ward and 62 nurses in other wards) enrolled. The online General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was provided to nurses. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16.

The mean total mental health scores of nurses working in Covid-19 and other wards were 62.68 ± 11.71 and 65.84 ± 12.07, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p-value = 0.20)

Mental health in nurses is very low in the epidemic of Covid-19. It is recommended promoting the mental health of nurses, which directly affects the quality of care and improves the health of the community, by appropriate planning such as psychotherapy counseling, holding fun and invigorating programs,‌ awarding incentives in various fields.