Evaluation of professional self-efficacy perception and disaster management competency status of nurses working in the disaster area

Disaster management involves planning all the details from before to after the disaster in order to prevent disasters and reduce their effects and directs all institutions of the society towards common goals. Self-efficacy refers to perceived abilities to learn and perform actions at specified levels. Nurses must receive appropriate training and be prepared in order to cope with disasters and provide effective disaster management. This study was conducted as a descriptive and relationship-seeking study with nurses working in a public hospital and its annex buildings located in the center of Kahramanmaraş between January and March 2024, in order to evaluate the professional self-efficacy perception and disaster management competence status of nurses working in the earthquake zone. The study was completed with a total of 520 nurses. Patient Identification Information Form, Nursing Profession Self-Efficacy Scale, and Nurses' Competency Assessment Scale for Disaster Management were used in the study. The data were evaluated with SPSS statistical score and the statistical significance value was accepted as p<0.05. The average age of the nurses participating in the study was 35.12±8.28, 81% (n=421) were women, 69.0% (n=421) were married, 75.6% (n=393) had a bachelor's degree. is a graduate. More than half of the nurses did not encounter any disaster situation while working in the hospital, and those who did encounter situations where they needed to intervene in the patient are as follows; It was found that there was equipment suitable for disaster conditions, medical supplies, qualified personnel, coordination, safe area and vehicles for evacuation. It was found that there was a moderate positive relationship between the total scores of the nurses' Nursing Profession Self-Efficacy Scale and the total scores of the Nurses' Competency Assessment Scale for Disaster Management. Based on the findings of this study, the recommendations of the study can be applied to increase the professional self-efficacy perceptions and disaster management competencies of nurses working in the earthquake zone. More research should be conducted on disaster management and professional self-efficacy and the results of this research should be integrated into practiceKeywords: Disaster management, Professional competence, Self-efficacy, Nurse