Perceived ‎personal ‎stress level of ‎Iraqi nurses ‎during ‎the ‎corona ‎pandemic and its relation with coping strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world physically, mentally, economically, and socially, and turned into a global public health problem. This study aimed to identify the stress level of nurses during the Corona pandemic period in Iraqi and the factors that are related to their level of stress, mainly their coping strategies. A descriptive cross- sectional study design was used. The study was conducted on a sample of 251, 99 males (39.4%) and 152 female (60.6 %) nurses. The data were collected using a survey which consisted of three parts: demographic data form, perceived stress scale, and coping strategies scale. The bulk of the participants had nursing high school for nursing (25.5 %), Diploma (45.4 %), and bachelor's degree (26.7 %). Most of the participants (81.3 %) were working at the isolation department. The mean perceived stress score is 21.9 (SD=5.2), and the mean coping strategies score is 3.1 (SD=0.9). The perceived stress level of participants was severe (17.1%), moderate (78.5%), or low (4.4%). The use of coping strategies of participants was moderate (76.5 %), high (19.5 %), and low (4%). The study does not find any statistically significant difference between level of stress and any of the examined sociodemographic characteristics. In addition, level of stress among those working at epidemic hospital affect the nurses' relationships with their families (t= 2.45, p= 0.015), daily life (t= 2.004, p = 0.046), and the daily mood (t = 2.226, p= 0.027). However, use of coping strategies did not differ between different age groups, gender, educational qualification, experience level, and working hours. Nurses should be prepared to deal with their own stress using the coping strategies in stressful events like pandemic so that they will be able to assist individuals better in society.