Investigation of the relationships of the conscious awareness levels of nurses with their burnout and turnover intention during the COVID-19 pandemic period

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the relationships of the conscious awareness levels of nurses with their burnout and turnover intention during the COVID-19 pandemic period, as well as whether they differ significantly according to their personal, socio-demographic. Method: The research was carried out on online platforms between 2-5 February 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic conditions. In the descriptive study, the sample consists of 386 nurses reached from the platforms with nurses and healthcare professionals on Facebook, the colleague group with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and e-mail records. The data were collected by four different data collection tools: Personal Information Form, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), and 3-item Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-3). Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation values were used for descriptive data in evaluating the data. Two independent samples t-test, ANOVA, LSD post hoc test, Pearson Correlation Test, and Regression analysis were used to compare the data. Results: 86.5 percent of the participants are female, 39.4 percent are aged 25 and under, 67.4 percent are single, 69.9 percent are undergraduate, 29.5 percent have 2-5 years of service in the profession. Participants' emotional exhaustion was found to be "high", their conscious awareness, sense of personal accomplishment, and their turnover intention were "moderate", and their depersonalization was found to be "low". The level of conscious awareness is low in those with a total working time of 5 years or less and those with 21 years or more. Conscious awareness explains about 14 percent of the change in emotional exhaustion, about 12 percent of the change in depersonalization, and about 4 percent of the change in turnover intention. Conclusion: In nurses with a total working time of 5 years or less and those with 21 years or more, the level of conscious awareness is low, the perceived good mental health in the participants during the COVID-19 process and the increase in conscious awareness are together. Increased conscious awareness reduces emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and turnover intention, but does not affect the sense of personal accomplishment. It may be advised to organize programs to regularly evaluate and improve the general mental health of nurses, which decreased to negative levels due to the stress of working under difficult conditions and other reasons during the pandemic process and to take measures specially to prevent emotional exhaustion. Key words: Conscious Awareness, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Nurses, Turnover intention, Pandemic, Psychiatry, Burnout.