The relationship between nurses' fear of COVID-19 and intentions to leave the work during the COVID-19 pandemic process

The research was carried out as a relationship-seeking, cross-sectional study in descriptive design in order to examine the relationship between the fear of COVID-19 experienced by nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic and their intention to leave. The population of the research consisted of 597 nurses working in a university hospital in Van. The sample was not selected in the study, and 443 nurses who agreed to participate in the study with the full count method and filled out the questionnaire completely participated in the study. "Personal Data Collection Form", "COVID-19 Fear Scale" and "Intention to Leave Scale" were used to collect data. Data analyzes of the research were performed using the SPSS 26 package program in computer environment, using frequency tables, descriptive and correlational statistics to interpret the findings. The mean score of the nurses participating in the study on the "COVID-19 Fear Scale" (16.97 ± 5.29) and the mean score on the "Intention to Leave Scale" was determined as (13.23 ± 4.44). It was found that the mean scores of both the COVID-19 Fear Scale and the Intention to Leave Scale of the nurses participating in the study were at a moderate level. A significant difference was found between the COVID-19 Fear Scale and nurses' educational status, income, and being vaccinated against COVID-19 (p<0.05). A significant difference was found between the Intention to Leave Scale and age, professional experience, working style, willingness to choose the nursing profession, being happy with the nursing profession, and being diagnosed with COVID-19 (p<0.05). Although there was a low and positive correlation between the mean scores of the COVID-19 Fear Scale and the Intention to Leave Scale in the study, no statistically significant relationship was found. It was concluded that the factor related to the intention to leave the job of nurses may be related to their economic status. It is recommended to conduct more in-depth research on this subject. Keywords: COVID-19, Fear of COVID-19, Nurse, Intention to Leave the Job