Occupational Stress and Resilience among Nurses in the Time of Covid-19 Pandemic

During Covid-19 pandemic, nurses are one of the most important job groups who experience high levels of stress. This study aims to compare occupational stress and resilience among nurses working in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 wards.

In this cross-sectional study, 130 nurses participated. To determine the occupational stress and resilience, Osipow Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) questionnaire and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) were used as collecting data tools, respectively.

The total stress score (176.63±15.86 versus 164.47±13.21, p= 0.02) was significantly higher, while the mean score of resilience was significantly lower (65.61±2.75 versus 78.76±2.61, p<0.001) in nurses working in COVID-19 wards, compared with the nurses in other wards. After adjusting for confounders, there were statistically significant associations between occupational stress and control subscale of resilience and between resilience and hospital wards (COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 wards).

The present study's findings indicated that nurses working in COVID-19 wards have higher stress and lower resilience than nurses in other wards.