Evaluation of Predictors of Tendency to Care for COVID-19 Patients in Nursing and Midwifery Students Based on Theory of Planned Behavior

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges were created in educating nursing and midwifery students. However, the clinical education of these students is still ongoing. Predicting students' behavior in providing care during crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, is an influential factor in continuing clinical education for nursing and midwifery students. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of the willingness to care for COVID-19 patients in nursing and midwifery students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

This cross-sectional study was performed with the participation of 210 nursing and midwifery students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in autumn 2021. The sampling method in this study was convenient method. In this study, data were collected using demographic information and planed behavioral theory tools. After completing the data collection process, data analysis was performed using SPSS16 software in two sections: descriptive and inferential analysis. A significance level of 0. 05 was considered.

Nursing and midwifery students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences have a high desire to provide care for patients with Covid-19 during their clinical training. The average score of the desire to care for the patients with covid-19 was 57.98±15.08. The constructs of attitude towards behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control respectively had the highest mean score of willingness to care for patients with Covid-19. Among these variables, attitude variable 51%, mental norm 68% and control beliefs explain 55% of the changes in willingness to take care of a patient with covid-19 by students.

Based on the findings of the present study, mental norms play the most important role in the occurrence of students' behavior, so it is necessary to focus more on the mental norms of students in providing services in special and acute conditions such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Beliefs of control and attitude are also among the other factors affecting the desire to care for patients with covid-19 among nursing and midwifery students, which should be considered in order to train these students to provide care to covid-19 patients.