Evaluation of psychological distress and stress levels of nurses working in the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic process

Mental health is defined as "a state of well-being in which an individual can cope with the normal stresses of life and work productively and efficiently". Psychological distress is a state of suffering that an individual has experienced in the last few weeks, characterized by symptoms of depression and anxiety, including disturbances in normal functioning. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the society socially and spiritually. Nurses who took on roles for direct patient care during the pandemic process were more affected by the process than other healthcare professionals. Revealing the processes affecting the mental health of nurses during the pandemic process is an important public health priority in terms of both evaluating the health of nurses and managing the effective and efficient delivery of nursing services. In this context, the aim of the study is; To evaluate the psychological distress and stress level of nurses working in the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. 265 volunteer nurses working at Istanbul Haseki Training and Research Hospital participated in the cross-sectional study. Data were collected through the "Socio-demographic Characteristics Information Form", "Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale (K10-PSÖ)" and "Nurses Stress Scale". In data analysis: descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage values, mean and standard deviation), according to normality analysis results, Mann Whitney U test, independent sample t test, Kruskal Wallis H test, ANOVA (F) test, Bonferroni test, pearson correlation analysis, simple linear regression analysis was used. Statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.05. The mean age of the participants was 28.22±5.93, and 77.4% were women, 61.5% were single, and 78.9% were undergraduates. It was determined that nurses experienced high levels of psychological distress and moderate stress. A significant and positive relationship was found between psychological distress and job stress. In this process, nurses should be given the opportunity to express themselves and effective coping methods should be taught to nurses. Occupational health nurses should evaluate nurses working in the hospital psychologically, and opportunities should be provided for them to receive psychological support.