The effect of the fear of the COVID-19 epidemic on the ethical moral sensitivity status and quality of work life of healthcare workers

This study was planned to examine the effect of the fear of the Covid-19 pandemic on the ethical sensitivity of health workers and their quality of work life. The research is a descriptive study looking for a relationship. The data of the study were obtained with the "Coronavirus 19 Phobia (CP19-S) Scale", "Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire", "Work Life Quality Scale" and "Personal Information Form". Data were collected from nurses and doctors who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study at Antalya Training and Research Hospital and Korkuteli State Hospital. The population of the study consists of nurses (1074 people) and doctors (883 people) working at Antalya Training and Research Hospital, and nurses (70 people) and doctors (30 people) working at Korkuteli State Hospital. The number of samples was calculated using the G-Power 3.1.9.2 program. A total of 292 people, 205 women and 87 men, participated in the study. Statistical analysis of the study was done with SPSS version 22.0. Normally distributed variables were evaluated using One Sample t-test and One Way ANOVA test, and non-normally distributed variables were evaluated using Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskall-Wallis test. It was determined that 67.12% of the participants participating in the study were nurses, 70.21% were women, 29.79% were men, 52.05% were mostly in the 20-31 age group, 57.53% were married and 47.94% had children. It was found that 17.80% of the participants worked in the Covid-19 service, 56.5% in other inpatient services, the highest number of participants was at the undergraduate education level with 40.75% and with 41.09% working experience between 0-5 years. A statistically significant difference was found only between the descriptive features, the year of employment and all three scales. It has been observed that the fear of Covid-19 is low, moral sensitivity is high, and the quality of work life is low in employees who are 24 years or more. Statistically significant differences were found as a result of the analyzes made between the Covid-19 Phobia Scale and gender, occupation, having a child, marital status, service and age (p<0.05). When the relationship between the Covid-19 Phobia Scale total score and the Work Life Quality Scale total score and the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire total score was examined, a statistically significant relationship was found (p<0.05). The results of the study can be predicted that the fear of the Covid-19 epidemic has an impact on the quality of work life and moral sensitivity in nurses and doctors. It is recommended that more studies be conducted in larger sample groups on healthcare workers who are most at risk in the event of epidemic.