The Psychosocial Considerations for Behaviour Change, Mental Health, and Work-Related Satisfaction in Preregistration Nurses, during Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract

The mental health of healthcare workers was affected by physical and psychological challenges during the pandemic. The aim was to study how psychosocial considerations can help manage behaviour change, mental health, and work satisfaction of nurse trainees in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. This cross-sectional study involved ninety-nine students. Participants’ anxiety, fear of the coronavirus, and perceived work satisfaction were measured by GAD-7, FCV19S, and COM-B scales and assessed using descriptive, correlational, and linear regression analysis. The significant zero-order correlations between job satisfaction and fear, anxiety, and psychosocial considerations were significant. They indicated moderate strength that allowed for further inferential development to find the best predictors of job satisfaction. The findings suggested that 50% of trainees showed anxiety above the suggested ≥8 cut-off on GAD-7, and 48% scored high for fear on FCV19S. There was a significant effect between year groups (F (2, 99) = 4.25, p=0.02, η2 = 0.081), with a Tukey post hoc test showing a significant difference between training years 1 and 2 with a p=0.015. A significant linear regression found that psychosocial variables in behaviour change (p≤0.001) and anxiety (p=0.011) were significant factors in job satisfaction, explaining 53.4% of the variance. Conclusion. Satisfaction was associated with higher levels of psychosocial considerations and low levels of anxiety and fear, which adds to previous literature on job satisfaction in nurse education. Future implications must examine ways to alleviate mental health effects and support policies and curricula to address this need.