Keywords
nurses
psychological experience
qualitative
How to Cite
Abstract
The Maldivian nurses had to face and deal with unique challenges during the coronavirus outbreak. As a result, they often faced extreme psychological pressure as a result of working constantly with a high risk of infection from patients and working in temporary setups with limited resources and manpower who were not well equipped to deal with a pandemic for the first time. This study aimed to explore the psychological experiences of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Maldives. A descriptive qualitative research design was used for this study. Five female nurses working in the COVID-19 related in-patient facilities participated in semi-structured, virtual (telephone or online) interviews. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: Overwhelming experience, nurses being treated differently, and valuing family support. The participants described the experience of being emotionally overwhelmed. Many experienced feelings of uncertainty and grief, mainly when they had to handle the death of COVID-19 patients under their care. Most significantly when they had to handle the dead bodies in a body bag as it was very painful for the families not being able to perform their last respect and rituals as per cultural practices. The second main theme was nurses’ grievance owing to the differential treatment they were subjected to by the public. When nurses had to go back to their resident islands, the island community was scared of contracting the disease from the nurses and as a result the public rejected interacting with the nurses. This further isolated the nurses subjecting them to loneliness. Finally, family is the most important and valuable support to overcome their psychological burden. Family members including husbands and mothers were very supportive of taking care of the nurses’ children while they worked long hours. The Maldivian nurses in COVID-19 facilities faced psychological adversities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings from this study can help in identifying issues and experiences of nurses, in order to implement appropriate interventions to monitor and support nurses during contagious disease outbreaks.
References
Aungsuroch, Y., Juanamasta, I. G., & Gunawan, J. (2020). Experiences of patients with Coronavirus in the COVID-19 pandemic era in Indonesia. Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research, 8(3), 377–392. https://doi.org/10.15206/ajpor.2020.8.3.377
Aksoy, Y. E., & Koçak, V. (2020). Psychological effects of nurses and midwives due to COVID-19 outbreak: The case of Turkey. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 34(5), 427–433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2020.07.011
Benbenishty, J., Ashkenazy, S., Levdov Avital, I., Jakobson, L., Kolpak, O., & DeKeyser Ganz, F. (2021). Nurses’ perceptions of social rejection, resilience and well-being during COVID-19: A national comparative study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, June, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.16034
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. London: Sage Publication Inc.
Cai, H., Tu, B., Ma, J., Chen, L., Fu, L., Jiang, Y., & Zhuang, Q. (2020). Psychological impact and coping strategies of frontline medical staff in Hunan between January and March 2020 during the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hubei, China. Medical Science Monitor: International Medical Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 26, e924171. https://doi.org/10.12659/MSM.924171
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research Methods in Education (8th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315456539
Creswell, J. W. (2005). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. (2nd ed). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Cypress, B. S. (2017). Rigor or reliability and validity in qualitative research: Perspectives, Strategies, Reconceptualization, and Recommendations. 36(August), 253–263. https://doi.org/10.1097/DCC.0000000000000253
Galehdar, N., Toulabi, T., Kamran, A., & Heydari, H. (2020). Exploring nurses’ perception about the care needs of patients with COVID-19: a qualitative study. BMC Nursing, 19(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-020-00516-9
Hassan, S. (2020). Maldivian health care workers’ experience during COVID-19. The Maldives National Journal of Research. 8, (1), 114-122.
Hong, S., Ai, M., Xu, X., Wang, W., Chen, J., Zhang, Q., Wang, L., & Kuang, L. (2021). Immediate psychological impact on nurses working at 42 government-designated hospitals during COVID-19 outbreak in China: A cross-sectional study. Nursing Outlook, 69(1), 6–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2020.07.007
Maben, J. and Bridges, J. (2020) COVID-19: Supporting nurses’ psychological and mental health. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(15-16), 2742-2750. doi: 10.1111/jocn.15307
Mariani, R., Renzi, A., Di Trani, M., Trabucchi, G., Danskin, K., & Tambelli, R. (2020). The impact of coping strategies and perceived family support ondepressive and anxious symptomatology during the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) lockdown. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11(November), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.587724
MOH. (2020). Frequently asked questions. https://COVID19.health.gov.mv/faqs/. Retrieved on 7th July, 2020.
Musthafa, H.S., Riyaz, A., Moosa, S., Abdul Raheem, R. (2020). Determinants of socioeconomic experiences during COVID-19 pandemic in the Maldives. Maldives National Journal of Research. 8 (2), 76-88
Nie, A., Su, X., Zhang, S., Guan, W., & Li, J. (2020). Psychological impact of COVID-19 outbreak on frontline nurses: A cross-sectional survey study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(21–22), 4217–4226. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15454
Pappa, S., Ntella, V., Giannakas, T., Giannakoulis, V. G., Papoutsi, E., & Katsaounou, P. (2021). Corrigendum to “Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and insomnia among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis” [Brain Behav. Immun. 88 (2020) 901–907] (Brain Behavior and Immunity (2020) 88 (901–907), (S08891. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 92(December 2020), 247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.11.023
Que, J., Shi, L., Deng, J., Liu, J., Zhang, L., Wu, S., Gong, Y., Huang, W., Yuan, K., Yan, W., Sun, Y., Ran, M., Bao, Y., & Lu, L. (2020). Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers: A cross-sectional study in China. General Psychiatry, 33(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2020-100259
Salari, N., Khazaie, H., Hosseinian-Far, A., Khaledi-Paveh, B., Kazeminia, M., Mohammadi, M., Shohaimi, S., Daneshkhah, A., & Eskandari, S. (2020). The prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression within front-line healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-regression. Human Resources for Health, 18(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-020-00544-1
Saladino, V., Algeri, D., & Auriemma, V. (2020). The psychological and social impact of COVID-19: new perspectives of well-being. Frontiers in psychology, 2550.
Shen X, Zou X, Zhong X, Yan J, & Li L. (2020). Psychological stress of ICU nurses in the time of COVID-19. Critical care[revista en internet] 2020 [acceso 09 de junio del 2020]; 24(1): 200. Critical Care, 2–4. https://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13054-020-02926-2
Spoorthy, M. S., Pratapa, S. K., & Mahant, S. ( 2020). Mental health problems faced by healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic–A review. Asian Journal of Psychiatric. doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102119
Sun, N., Wei, L., Shi, S., Jiao, D., Song, R., Ma, L., Wang, H., Wang, C., Wang, Z., You, Y., Liu, S., & Wang, H. (2020). A qualitative study on the psychological experience of caregivers of COVID-19 patients. American Journal of Infection Control, 48(6), 592–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2020.03.018
Tselebis, A., Lekka, D., Sikaras, C., Tsomaka, E., Tassopoulos, A., Ilias, I., Bratis,D., & Pachi, A. (2020). Insomnia, perceived stress, and family support among nursing staff during the pandemic crisis. Healthcare (Switzerland), 8(4), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8040434