Does Covid 19 Revamp Nurses Compassion? Post Covid 19 Approach

Research Article

Austin J Psychiatry Behav Sci. 2023; 9(2): 1094.

Does Covid 19 Revamp Nurses’ Compassion? Post Covid 19 Approach

George Vellaramcheril Joy*

Nursing and Midwifery Research Department, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar

*Corresponding author: George Vellaramcheril Joy Nursing and Midwifery Research Department, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. Email: [email protected]

Received: August 08, 2023 Accepted: September 05, 2023 Published: September 12, 2023

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly emerged infectious disease. During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare employees were a vulnerable group who were subjected to direct contact with infected patients, an excessive workload, and experiences of physical exhaustion, fear, emotional disturbance, and sleep pattern dysregulation. Nurses are the first healthcare workers who care for COVID-19 patients [30]. Due to their position at frontline, nurses witness the agony and death of their patients which predispose them to psychological issues including self-compassion [27]. When confronted with difficulty or adversity like pandemic Self-compassion is highly concerned among another psychological factors [26]. Compassion can be described as an awareness of the suffering of others and coupled with the motivation to alleviate and prevent this suffering [29]. Compassion involves sensitivity, recognition, understanding, emotional resonance, empathic concern, and tolerance for the distress generated by the suffering of others, [8]. To be self-compassionate, one must be kind to oneself rather than judging or criticizing oneself (self-kindness), recognize that suffering is part of human nature (common humanity), and experience the present without over-identifying oneself with one's emotions (over-identification [29]. In this case of Self-compassion enables us to appreciate other people's views and experiences by helping us see our shared humanity, acknowledge that we all face challenges, and develop a balanced understanding of experiences [26].

Indeed, studies highlights that of nurse’s self-compassion is an important component which reflect on self-awareness and empathic understanding of patients [10,18]. Through self-compassion nurses may be particularly aware mindfulness and non-judgmental behavior approaches which can be used in their practice, such as approaches acknowledge that life can involve suffering at times, and things were out of control. Mindful approaches also help each one commit to live life in line with values and with awareness by avoidance or over-identification with automatic thoughts and negative thoughts [15]. Evidences states that self- compassionate people are less likely to develop negative self-evaluations and always have a sense of worth [22]. Additionally, self-compassion has a significant impact on the psychosocial abilities and behaviors of the general public, including happiness, good self-evaluation, and increased social connectedness [14]. Being mentally compassionate and understanding toward oneself when facing challenges or having weak moments is the act of practicing self-compassion. The capacity of a person to respect, care about, and be kind to others as well as to himself or herself [33].

In the period of unfavorable situations such as a pandemic, self-compassion is considered important to increase the protective factors of individuals in order to avoid mental problems that may occur in society [32]. When confronted with difficulty or adversity like pandemic Self-compassion is highly concerned among another psychological factors [26]. Professionals engaged in helping others, including nurses, experience lack of self-compassion due to working with patients who have experienced a traumatic event or pandemic [2].

In Qatar, few studies have been conducted on nurses after the COVID-19 pandemic (includes main two waves) to evaluate self-compassion aspects. This study aims to explore the self-compassion of staff nurses, after the COVID 19 pandemic. The research will aid in examining how the pandemic has affected the nurses' ability to cultivate self-compassion

Theoretical Framework

Shame Resilience Theory is the theoretical foundation for this study [13]. According to the Shame Resilience Theory, can help people understand and cope with circumstances and quiet their inner critic, which is essential for leading contempt life and promotes inner resilience [19]. In the beginning of COVID-19, nurses experienced dread, self-blame, and social isolation, but as their experience progresses, they start to build support and meaningful relationships with people (such as families and coworkers), which makes them resilient and empathic. They can develop self-compassion by moving along the shame resilience continuum from the fear zone to the growth zone [4].

Methods

Design

The study used a descriptive, cross-sectional research survey design. The study was conducted at the largest health organization in Qatar includes 14 health facilities. The organization has almost 10,000 nursing staff working in different facilities.

Participants

The target population of the study were registered nurses working in the health organization in Qatar. Based on the mean resilience score from the prior research (66.91±13.34) [1] the sample size was calculated to be 268 with a target population of 10,000 nurses and a 95% confidence interval. Assuming a 12% non-response rate, a total sample size of 300 was determined. The sample calculation has been done as a part of the part of the publication [21] Participants in the research had to be licensed staff nurses with a minimum of one year of experience in order to meet the inclusion requirements.

The Instrument

Data were gathered through the use of a structured online questionnaire. The demographic information about the subjects was included in the first section. The Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF), a five-point Likert scale with 12 questions ranging from 1 to 5, is the second section of the questionnaire. 1 means "almost never," while 5 means "almost always." The total score can be between 12 and 60. Higher results reflect greater levels of self-compassion. The measure also includes subdomains for Self-Kindness, Self-Judgment, Common Humanity, Isolation, Mindfulness, and Over-Identified. Each item has two questions and a score range from 1 to 10 (Raes et al., 2011). The scale suggested good reliability encompassing Cronbach’s acoefficient (0.84) and test-retest reliability (0.89, in the 2-week interval) (Meng et al., 2019).

Data Collection

The anonymized data were gathered via online questionnaires using Microsoft forms during the third wave of COVID-19, The information sheet and survey link were sent to participants via the hospital staff nurses' email. To boost response rates, a reminder email was sent every two weeks. The researchers had no formal relationship with the participants

Ethical Considerations

Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval was obtained from the Medical Research Centre (MRC- 01- 21- 723). The questionnaires were emailed to all staff who were working in 14 health facilities. Implied consent was used, where staff could refuse to participate in the survey by not returning their answers (O'Neill,2003). Participants were made aware that their involvement was voluntary, and that no personally identifiable information was collected.

Data Analysis

A total of 300 subjects were collected. The distribution of participant data and the sample characteristics were determined using descriptive statistics. The score was calculated for self-compassion to add the responses of nurses. Categorical data were summarized using frequencies and proportions. The proper application of the unpaired t ANOVA test was used to evaluate quantitative data between two or more independent groups. All P values presented were two-tailed, and P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. All Statistical analyses were done using the statistical packages STATA 17.0 and Epi-info (Armonk and Epi-info (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA).

Results

Sample Characteristics

Total of 300 nurses returned the survey. The mean age of the participants was 38.2±7.2 years and more than one third (76%) of the participants were females. Most of the participants (42.7%) were in the age group of 35-44 years. The majority (76%) of the respondents were married and 74% were working as staff nurses. With regards to their experience 26.3% of them were having 1-3 years, 25.7% 6 to 10 years and 35% were having more than 11 years. The majority of participants (72.3%) were graduate registered nurses, followed by charge nurses (14%), nurse educators (5%), chief nurses (6%), and executive and nursing directors (2%).

More than half of the nurses (60.3%) were assigned to Covid-19 facilities during the pandemic and 21.7% still working in Covid-19 facilities during the survey. The sociodemographic data of the sample is described in table 1.