Investigating the Stress, Anxiety, and Depression of Nurses Caring for Patients with COVID-19 in Isfahan City, Iran, and its Relationship with their Spiritual Health

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has harmed the health dimensions of people, especially nurses who were at the forefront of fighting this disease. Undoubtedly, they endure a lot of work pressure in these conditions, which can affect different aspects of their health. The present study was designed and implemented to investigate the stress, anxiety, and depression of nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 in Isfahan, Iran, and its relationship with spiritual well-being and demographic variables.

This cross-sectional study was a descriptive-analytical one, conducted on 297 nurses who met the inclusion criteria working in the clinical wards of COVID-19 hospitals affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The data collection instrument included Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-42 (DASS-42), and Paloutzian and Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS). The data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive and analytic statistics.

More than one-third of nurses (35.3%) and about one-third of them (27.2%) had significant levels of anxiety and depression. The results of the Pearson test showed that there was an inverse and significant statistical relationship between the stress, anxiety, and depression of nurses working in the COVID-19 wards with spiritual well-being.

According to the results of the present study, it seems that attention and strengthening of the spiritual dimension of nurses in crises, along with financial and union support, will improve the mental health of nurses and consequently, will improve the service process for patients.