Spiritual Health First Aid for Self-Care: Nursing During COVID-19

Describing Remembrance & Renewal: A Holistic Self-Care Program

Background: Holistic care interventions include support for healthcare worker grief in a relationship-based care paradigm. Few programs support oncology healthcare worker grief and renewal prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: Describe "knowledge of" and "engagement with" a program about grief and resilience, Remembrance & Renewal (R&R). Method: An anonymous, electronic survey was available to healthcare workers at an academic, comprehensive cancer center. Demographic questions were analyzed against "knowledge of" and "engagement with." Results: Of 105 responding to "awareness of," 81 knew about R&R and 48 had "engaged with" the program. Statistically significant relationships between a characteristic and awareness were found for education (p  =  .03), setting (p < .01), and the frequency of learning about a death (p  =  .04). Statistically significant relationships between a characteristic and level of participation were found for profession (p  =  .02) and length of time in job (p  =  .03). Open-ended questions asked about impact of patient death (n  =  93), barriers to participation (n  =  54), and feelings after "engagement with" (n  =  45). Responses to impact, barriers, and feelings were respectively: sadness (75.3%); time (77.8%); and calm (75.6%). Conclusion: This study describes "knowledge of" and "engagement with" a holistic grief and renewal program. Further study will add to healthcare worker holistic self-care.

"Embracing the Inner Strength and Staying Strong": Exploring Self-Care Preparedness among Nurses for Enhancing Their Psychological Well-Being against the Long-Term Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic in Brunei Darussalam

During three years of the unprecedented, massive COVID-19 pandemic that affected the world, nurse front liners faced substantial challenges and experienced long-term adverse mental health. This study explored psychological self-care practices undertaken by nurses to strengthen their mental health and develop resilience in their professional care role while addressing the challenges of the COVID-19 era. A qualitative descriptive exploratory study was conducted on 40 nurses who worked in providing COVID-19 care across Brunei using focus groups aided by semi-structured open-ended questions. Data were thematically analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. Four themes emerged: (1) 'Care of the mind, heart and soul'; (2) 'Physical care for the psychological well-being'; (3) 'Venting out and distraction'; (4) 'Have faith, think and stay positive'. The challenges of dealing with a worldwide pandemic unintentionally placed nurses' mental well-being at risk while the government strategized and prioritized containing and preventing the spread of and death from COVID-19. Health administrators, as well as nursing educators, need to promote and develop resources to strengthen nurses' psychological self-care practices. This will not only benefit individual nurses but will help promote the well-being of patients and employees, improve the health of all, and counteract any unintended stressful situations, even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Compassion Fatigue in Nurses: The Role of Spiritual Well-Being, Emotion Regulation and Time Perspective

Background

Nurses experience many psychological problems in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Compassion Fatigue (CF) in nurses and the role of Spiritual Well-being (SW), Emotion Regulation (ER), and Time Perspective (TP) in predicting it.

Materials and Methods

The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical samples of this study included 394 nurses in Iran who were selected by the census sampling method. The sub-scale of CF from the Professional Quality of Life Scale, SW questionnaire, ER, and the short form of TP questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and analysis of covariance tests were used to analyze the data.

Results

The prevalence of CF in nurses in the COVID-19 outbreak was 59.39%. CF in female nurses was higher than that in male nurses (F_3,392 = 15.23, p < 0.001); in married nurses, it was higher than that in single nurses (F_3,392 = 14.23, p < 0.001); and in nurses on fixed shifts, it was higher than that in nurses on rotating shifts (F_3,392 = 5.63, p < 0.001). Also, CF in the emergency nurses, intensive care unit nurses, and coronary care unit nurses working under COVID-19 pandemic was higher than that in the emergency nurses and nurses who worked in other wards (F_3,388 = 14.31, p < 0.001). The results of hierarchical regression showed that SW, ER, and positive past negatively and suppression, present-fatalistic, negative past, and negative future positively predicted the CF (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Based on the results, programs and psychological trainings based on SW, ER, and TP are suggested to reduce CF in nurses in the COVID-19 outbreak.

Lived Experiences of Nursing Professionals Providing Care to COVID-19 Patients

Objective: To analyze nursing professionals’ reports on their lived experience in the care provided to hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This is an exploratory study using a qualitative analysis, which included twelve nurses and eight nursing technicians from a public hospital in Brazil, conducted between December 2020 and February 2021. The inclusion criteria were professionals who provided care to COVID-19 patients in emergency, intensive care, and inpatient units and who had at least one year of experience in the institution. The interviews were analyzed through content and similarity analysis that generated a similarity tree; the Reinert method was used for thematic categories. Results: Most participants were female, with a mean age of 34.15 years and 4.85 years of experience. From the analysis, the words ‘patient,’ ‘to stay,’ and ‘to find’ were the most frequent, and for the categories, they were “nursing professionals’ feelings regarding the pandemic,” “the nurses’ role and work with the multi-professional team in the care provided to patients with COVID-19,” “precautions with the care provided to patients with COVID-19,” and “nursing professionals’ concern that their family members may become ill during the pandemic.” Conclusions: The nursing staff is predominantly composed of females and, in their reports on the lived experience of providing care to patients with COVID-19, they pointed out that concern and fear were prevalent, with the family being one of the protective factors to withstand the risks of working against something novel that may result in death.

Nurses' spiritual well-being and the COVID-19 pandemic: A Thematic Approach

AIMS

This study explores nurses' perceived spiritual well-being in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND

Nurses have been working heavy shifts under challenging workplace conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to anxiety and psychological stress. These various challenges at work place their spiritual well-being at risk.

DESIGN

Thematic qualitative approach.

METHODS

An unstructured individual online interview was conducted to collect data from 18 nurses from April to August 2021. Data were analyzed using the thematic approach.

RESULTS

This study highlighted the four themes of spiritual well-being of nurses, namely, "Trust in God," "spiritual encouragement," "spiritual attributes in the workplace," and "spiritual growth."

CONCLUSIONS

The study concludes that spirituality is critical in helping nurses overcome the myriad of adversities they face as they assume their important roles during the ongoing pandemic.

IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

The study emphasizes that nurses' spiritual aspect nurses during crises is equally important with the other aspects of a nurse's life. Moreover, policies and interventions in hospitals must be implemented to ensure excellent levels of spiritual well-being among nurses.