Fear of COVİD-19 and work stress in nurses working in the hospital

During the pandemic, nurses have played an important role in the treatment and care of individuals with COVID-19. Fear of COVID-19 was added to the work stress experienced by nurses for various reasons before the pandemic. Revealing the processes that affect nurses' mental health during the pandemic is an important public health priority in terms of evaluating nurses' health and managing the effective delivery of nursing services. In this context, the aim of the study is; To examine the fear of COVID-19 and the level of work stress in nurses working in the hospital. The population of the cross-sectional study is the nurses working in Erzurum Atatürk University Research and Application Hospital. 270 volunteer nurses participated in the study. Data were collected between March and May 2022 using the Socio-demographic Characteristics Form, the COVID-19 Fear Scale, and the Nurse Stress Scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 program and according to the results of descriptive statistical methods and normality analysis, t test, analysis of variance, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis H test, Pearson correlation analysis were used in independent groups. The mean age of the nurses participating in the study was 30.51±7.50, 82.2% were women, 62.6% were married, and 53% were undergraduates. 44.1% of the nurses gave care to patients with COVID-19, 72.2% were diagnosed with COVID-19. Nurses' fear of COVID-19 and job stress are below moderate. Nurses' fear of COVID-19; It differs according to the unit they work, working hours, age and working year, change of duty place during the pandemic process, family relations, stress level and sleep pattern. The work stress of nurses differs according to caring for patients with COVID-19, family relations and sleep patterns during the pandemic process. When the relationship between the scales is examined by Pearson correlation analysis; A statistically significant, positive and low-level relationship was found between fear of COVID-19 and stress in nurses (r=0.145, p<0.017). As the fear of COVID-19 increases in nurses, job stress also increases.