Quality of life of nursing internship students in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Early impact of COVID-19 social distancing on social determinants of health and their effects on mental health and quality of life of Korean undergraduate students

Introduction

This study aimed to investigate the association between social determinants of health and perception of COVID-19 social distancing/mental health/quality of life during COVID-19 social distancing in Korean undergraduate students using online survey data augmented with natural language processing.

Methods

An online cross-sectional survey including sociodemographic characteristics, students' perceptions of COVID-19 social distancing, and social determinants of health was conducted between July and November in 2020. We conducted logistic regression analysis to investigate the relationship between social determinants of health (independent variables) and perceptions of COVID-19 social distancing, mental health, and quality of life (dependent variables). This association was augmented using sentiment analysis and word clouds by visualizing open-ended comments on COVID-19 social-distancing policies.

Results

Data were collected from 1,276 undergraduate students. Participants who experienced negative impacts on their social-networking activities due to COVID-19 social distancing were at significantly higher odds to perceive COVID-19 social distancing as not being beneficial [odds ratio (OR) = 1.948, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.254-3.027], to have increased stress levels (OR = 1.619, 95% CI 1.051-2.496), and to experience decreased quality of life over 5 weeks (OR = 2.230, 95% CI 1.448-3.434) against those who answered neutrally. In contrast, Participants who reported positive perceptions of social-networking activities during the COVID-19 pandemic had lower odds of feeling depressed or anxious (OR = 0.498, 95% CI 0.278-0.894) and reporting a low quality of life over 5 weeks (OR = 0.461, 95% CI 0.252-0.842) compared to those who reported neutral perceptions. Furthermore, the results of the word cloud and sentiment analyses showed that most students perceived social distancing negatively.

Conclusions

The government's social-distancing policy to prevent the spread of COVID-19 may have had a negative impact, particularly on undergraduate students' social-networking activities. This highlights the need for greater social support for this population, including access to psychotherapeutic resources, and improvements in policies to prevent infectious diseases while still maintaining social connections.

Structural Equation Modelling of Professional Values and Competency of Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that affected nurses’ professional values and competence.

Aim

Our study examined the relationship between nurses’ professional values and competence in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

This study used a descriptive cross-sectional design with 748 nurses from Saudi Arabia. Two self-report instruments were used to collect data. Structural equation modelling was conducted to analyse the data.

Findings

The emerging model showed acceptable model fit indices. Two dimensions of nurse professional values significantly affected professional competence: professionalism and activism. Professionalism significantly affected the other four facets (e.g., caring, activism, trust, and justice) of nurse professional values. The dimension of caring had a strong, direct effect on activism. Justice had a moderate, direct impact on trust, while activism had a weak, direct impact on trust. Professionalism and caring had strong, indirect effects on professional competence by mediating the dimension of activism.

Discussion

The study’s findings highlight the need for strategies to evaluate and strengthen the various areas of professional values to foster professional competence among nurses. Moreover, nurse administrators should encourage nurses to participate in continuing nursing education programs or provide in-service educational training to promote professional values and competence.

Conclusion

This study provides a structural model of the interaction between nurses’ professional values and competence during the pandemic. Nurse administrators can leverage the presented model to develop policies and strategies to evaluate and strengthen nurses’ professional values and competence.

Social jetlag and quality of life among nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Amid drastic changes in the educational environment and continued substitution of in-person learning with online learning owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to analyze the predictors of quality of life among nursing students to devise strategies to enhance their quality of life. This study aimed to identify the predictors of nursing students' quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on social jetlag.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 198 Korean nursing students in 2021, using an online survey. Chronotype, social jetlag, depression symptoms, and quality of life were assessed using the Korean version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire, Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale abbreviated version, respectively. Multiple regression analyses were performed to identify the predictors of quality of life.

RESULTS

Factors affecting participants' quality of life were age (β = - 0.19, p = .003), subjective health status (β = 0.21, p = .001), social jetlag (β = - 0.17, p = .013), and depression symptoms (β = - 0.33, p < .001). These variables accounted for 27.8% of the variance in quality of life.

CONCLUSION

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the social jetlag of nursing students has decreased compared to before the pandemic. Nevertheless, the results showed that mental health issues such as depression affect their quality of life. Therefore, it is necessary to devise strategies to support students' ability to adapt to the rapidly changing educational environment and promote their mental and physical health.

The Association between COVID-19 Pandemic and the Quality of Life of Medical Students in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland

(1) Background: Since the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly in 2020, medical universities have been affected by a particular crisis. Due to the increased risk of SARS CoV-2 transmission, the authorities of medical faculties all over the world, including Poland, started to minimize direct contact between students. The objective of the paper is to identify and assess determinants of the quality of life among medical students in Poland before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Methods: We analyzed data obtained in a cross-sectional study performed among three groups of students tested in three consecutive research periods: period before the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period and the COVID-19 pandemic period following lockdown. (3) Results: The total number of participants was 1098. We identified that the research period before the COVID-19 pandemic was the risk factor for lower quality of life in terms of the somatic and environmental domains. It was also confirmed that determinants such as poor financial situation, low frequency of physical activity and bad self-declared health status harmed the QoL scores in all domains. (4) Conclusions: The obtained results confirmed that better financial situation, higher physical activity and better self-declared health status were statistically significant factors improving the quality of life of first-year medical students in Poland. The findings of our study also showed that the declared somatic and environmental domains of QoL among medical students were better during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Our observations confirmed that the immediate implementation of e-learning could protect against the deterioration of mental health and quality of life in first-year medical students during possible future epidemic crises.

Nurses' professional values and competency in Saudi Arabia: A structural equation modelling approach

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore the relationship between Saudi nurses' professional values and competence.

BACKGROUND

Professionals are bound by ethical standards specific to their profession. Accordingly, the COVID-19 pandemic is the most significant event that has impacted nurses' professional values and competency.

DESIGN

A descriptive cross-sectional design adhering to STROBE guidelines.

METHODS

Clinical nurses from four tertiary government hospitals (n = 659) participated and completed two self-report instruments. Study variables were analysed using the structural equation modelling approach.

RESULTS

The emerging model displayed acceptable model fit indices. Professionalism and activism were two dimensions of nurse professional values that significantly impacted professional competency. Professionalism significantly impacted the four other aspects of nurse professional values: caring, activism, trust, and justice. Caring had a significant and direct impact on activism. Activism had a weak, direct effect on trust, whereas justice had a moderate, direct effect on trust. Through the mediation of the dimension of activism, both the dimensions of professionalism and caring had a strong, indirect impact on professional competency.

CONCLUSIONS

This research presents a structural model of the interrelationship between nurse professional values and competency. Nurse administrators can use the proposed model to develop approaches and policies for assessing, improving and evaluating professional values among nurses.

RELEVANCE FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE

Nursing professionals are committed to upholding their ethical and moral standards while performing their caregiver roles. Nurse administrators can implement activities and strategies to develop nurses' professional competence further, as professional values represent the ideal values expected of nurses providing patient care.

Evaluation of Quality of Nursing Work-Life: Based on Swanson’s Theory of Caring

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: Quality of Nursing Work-Life has become a major factor in influencing the quality of nursing services. Meanwhile, the caringbehavior that is shown by nurses can predict the value of their work quality AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aimed to assess the QNWL and to identify the predictors based on Swanson's theory of caring including compassion,competence, and upholding trust. METHODOLOGY: Cross-sectional studies were conducted in a nurse at a hospital in Tulungagung and a hospital in Banyuwangi (n = 420 by simple random sampling) from January to April 2021. The instrument in this study was developed by standard guidelines of Swanson's theory andQNWL's instruments. Multiple linear regression was used to identify predictors. RESULTS: The mean score of QNWL was 132.05 (SD = 0.936) (range of possible score = 32 - 160). Upholding trust (0.01), Compassion (0.03), and competence (0.02) significantly predicted QNWL (R Square = 0.795). CONCLUSION: The constructs of Swanson's Theory significantly predicted QNWL. This study supports an investigation about the factors underlying QNWL on a larger scale, as well as the identification of targets in designing future interventions.

The multidimensionality of anxiety among nursing students during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Over the past year, healthcare workers constantly report their COVID-19 anxiety. However, this concept remained understudied among nursing students (NSs).

AIM

This study investigated the difference between NSs' three types of anxiety and their profile variables during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

This study used a cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational design. Three instruments were used: COVID-19 anxiety scale (CAS), COVID-19 anxiety syndrome scale (COVID-19ASS), and short health anxiety inventory (SHAI) to collect data from 484 Saudi NSs. We applied the Mann-Whitney U test and linear regression to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Across the three instruments; CAS, Item 1 "I feel bad when thinking about COVID-19"; COVID-19ASS, Item 11 "I have imagined what could happen to my family members if they contracted COVID-19"; and SHAI, Item 17 "A serious illness could ruin many aspects of my life" yielded the highest means. COVID-19ASS showed a significant difference for the profiles "known positive" (p = 0.05) and "action taken after with testing" (p = 0.05). NS, who knew someone with COVID-19, was the only predictor of CAS.

CONCLUSION

Our study concludes NSs experience anxiety symptoms. Anxiety is specific to COVID-19 or a set of similar anxiety symptoms. Further research is needed to explore the anxiety state of NSs during the pandemic.

Quality of life and academic resilience of Filipino nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

Studies on quality of life (QoL) and academic resilience among nursing students during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic remain underreported. This study investigated the relationship between nursing students' QoL and academic resilience and their predictors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A descriptive survey, cross-sectional study that used two self-reported questionnaire scales to evaluate the QoL and academic resilience of Filipino nursing students (n=924). Chi-squared test and multiple regression were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

There was no significant association between the QoL and academic resilience to participants' profile variables. Gender and year level of nursing students were significant predictors of QoL and academic resilience.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study concludes that a better understanding of the QoL and academic resilience, which are two distinct concepts critical in developing a student's mental well-being, will help stakeholders in nursing education establish effective psychoeducation programs for nursing students.

Transition of graduate nurses from student to practice during the COVID-19 pandemic: Integrative review

The COVID-19 pandemic has had dire consequences for all health care workers including nurses. Consequently, those graduate nurses who transitioned into practice during that time were not spared the pandemic's impact. The purpose of this integrative review is to identify and present the extant literature on the transition of graduate nurses from student to practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online data bases ranging from the Cumulative Index to the Nursing and Allied Health Literature, the Education Resources Information Centre and PsychINFO were all perused for publications between 2019 and 2021. Key search terms included COVID-19, graduate nurses, newly qualified nurses, transition. The researchers then carefully assessed the articles found and used the coder to determine the relevance of those selected articles. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme was used to validate the quality of the research articles considered for review. The search of these data bases produced 10 articles which met the inclusion criteria. Four main themes emerged from the study, namely: Organisational challenges faced by graduate nurses during their transition into practice during the COVID-19 pandemic; Personal challenges experienced by graduate nurses in their transition into practice in the context of COVID-19 pandemic; Positive outcomes emanating from the transition of graduate nurses during the pandemic; and Factors which facilitated the transition from student to practice by graduate nurses during the pandemic. The organisational challenges findings revealed that graduate nurses experienced such problems as a shortage of resources, burnout syndrome, work overload and lack of support. Challenges related to their transition throughout the COVID-19 pandemic period included psychological effects and the theory practice gap. Positive outcomes that emerged were learning and better employment opportunities. Factors which could have better facilitated their transition encompassed the availability of equipment and training opportunities. Recommendations include increased collaborative efforts amongst stakeholders to support and mentor graduate nurses during such emergencies; and psychological interventions that could assist with coping in such dire situations as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of nursing students in Japan: protocol for a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading globally with a high risk of mortality. It is also significantly affecting mental health. For nursing students, the impact of COVID-19 on mental health is predicted to be significant; however, sufficient data have not been obtained. Therefore, this study will aim to assess the mental health of nursing students and evaluate the related factors.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This proposed study is a cross-sectional survey using a self-report questionnaire. An online questionnaire will be distributed among all nursing students of eight universities in Japan. The survey questionnaire will consist of questions related to demography, life satisfaction, fear of COVID-19, mental health and physical activities. The target sample size is 1300 nursing students. We will calculate descriptive statistics for each measurement item and perform univariate and logistic regression analyses to evaluate the potential risk factors for anxiety, depression and insomnia symptoms in nursing students. The strength of association will be assessed using the OR and its 95% CIs. Statistical significance will be set at a p<0.05.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the University of Hyogo on 22 March 2021 (ID: 2020F29). In addition, all of the participating facilities required ethical approval from their local IRBs. The findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. We believe that the proposed large-scale investigation of the mental health of nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic and the relationship between mental health and fear of COVID-19 are novel and will be a strength of this study.

Are internship experiences during a pandemic related to students' commitment to nursing education? A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The predominate role of internships on the retention of nursing students highlights the need to monitor internship experiences during a healthcare crisis like CoViD-19.

OBJECTIVES

To explore the relation between internships experiences during a pandemic and student nurses' commitment or intention-to-leave the nursing program; as well as the relation between internship experiences and commitment or intention-to-leave the nursing program.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

A cross-sectional study using a sample of 1.079 nursing students from18 nursing schools in Flanders, Belgium. Students from all study years were eligible to participate.

METHODS

Online self-reporting survey during the first CoViD-19 wave (April-May 2020). Regression analyses were used to explore the association with students' commitment or intention-to-leave.

RESULTS

Students reported high levels of study commitment (4.06; SD 0.66; range 1-5), and an overall low intention-to-leave (1.64; SD 0.83; range 1-5). No difference in commitment or intention-to-leave were seen between students who did or did not had internship experience during CoViD-19 period. Need-supportive experiences - indicating that students felt competent, related to the team, and could be themselves on internship - coincided with high commitment. Conversely, need-frustrating experiences - indicating that students felt insecure, unrelated, and controlled by the nursing team - increased intention-to-leave nursing education. Students who felt pressured for an internship during the first wave of the CoViD-19 crisis, had more doubts to continue nursing education, and an increased chance on drop-out.

CONCLUSIONS

We recommend nursing schools to assess student's motivation when making a substantiated decision concerning internships during a health crisis, as facing an imposed or subjective mandatory decision to go into clinical practice might lead to less commitment to the study program. For both teacher and staff mentors it is deemed important to discuss the internship climate with the student, in order to early identify need-frustrating issues during internship.

Quality of life and associated factors among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life (QoL) and determine its association with various factors and social support among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic after the end of movement lockdown.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

This online cross-sectional study recruited 316 participants. The inclusion criteria were students 18 years and above who were registered with the faculties of medicine at Malaysian public universities located in Klang Valley and in the states of Penang and Kelantan in Peninsular Malaysia. The exclusion criteria were those who presented with psychotic disorders, bipolar mood disorder or a history of illicit drugs.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Participants were administered a self-reported questionnaire to gather data on demographic, personal, clinical and psychological characteristics. The questionnaire comprised of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the WHO Quality of Life- Brief Version (WHOQoL-BREF).

RESULTS

The psychological and social QoL scores were lower than the non-pandemic norms of the general population, while the physical health and environmental QoL scores were comparable. After adjusting for relevant demographic, personal and clinical variables, religious coping, greater number of hours of online classes attended, and greater social support from family, friends and significant others were significantly associated with higher QoL among the participants. Frustration due to study disruption, living in areas with a high prevalence of COVID-19 cases, and a higher severity of depressive and stress symptoms were significantly associated with lower QoL.

CONCLUSION

COVID-19 impaired the QoL of university students even after the movement lockdown was lifted.