The effect of nurses COVID-19 fear and burnout on care behaviors during the pandemic process

The study was conducted as a descriptive study to determine the effect of nurses' fear of COVID-19 and burnout on their care behaviors during the pandemic process. The population of the study consisted of 155 nurses working in Ankara Gazi Mustafa Kemal State Hospital (n=112) and Beytepe Murat Erdi Eker State Hospital (n=43). Its sample is; The study consisted of 131 nurses who met the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate in the study. The data of the study were collected with the "Nurse Information Form", "COVID-19 Fear Scale", "Maslach Burnout Scale" and "Caring Behaviors Scale-24", which includes data on the sociodemographic characteristics of individuals and the pandemic process. Analysis of the data was done using SPSS version 23. In descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation values were analyzed for continuous variables with normal distribution, and median and minimum-maximum values for continuous variables without normal distribution. Frequencies and percentages were used in categorical variables. In the findings of our study; A significant negative correlation was found between fear of COVID-19 and care behaviors (p<0.05). At the same time, a significant negative correlation was found between burnout and caring behaviors (p<0.05). It was determined that as the fear of COVID-19 and burnout increased, the care behaviors of the nurses decreased. In addition, nurses who had COVID-19 and survived the disease, were diagnosed with COVID-19 from their family members, worked more than normal working hours during the pandemic process, thought that their care behaviors were adversely affected, had a change in their relationship with their colleagues, had negative family relations and had difficulty in staying away from their children and their behaviors were found to be significantly lower than the others (p<0.05). As a result, nurses experience fear of COVID-19, burnout and pandemic related difficulties during the pandemic process. In this case, it negatively affects care behaviors of nurses. Keywords: Pandemic, Fear of COVID-19, Burnout, Care Behavior, Nurse