Psychological Distress Among Nurse Practitioners After the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

Background: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, frontline health care workers have experienced significant stress due to concerns about their own infection risk, fear of transmitting the virus to their families, societal stigmatization, changes in work hours, and uncertainties regarding disease progression. However, the related studies in the literature focus predominantly on psychological distress among nurses, physicians, and administrative staff during the pandemic and its factors of influence, with few studies exploring this issue in nurses during the postpandemic period. This study was developed to address this gap.

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate psychological distress among nurse practitioners during the post-COVID-19 pandemic era and its associated factors.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a hospital in southern Taiwan from May 1 to July 31, 2023. The cohort included 98 nurse practitioners. Study data were collected using a personal demographics datasheet, the Depression, Anxiety, And Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and the stress scale of caring for highly-infectious-disease patients. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the independent samples t test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation, and multiple linear regression.

Results: The mean DASS-21 score was 14.17 ( SD = 9.56), with mean scores for depression, anxiety, and stress of 8.18 ( SD = 6.9), 6.92 ( SD = 6.32), and 13.24 ( SD = 8.14), respectively; all indicative of normal levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. The mean stress scale of caring for highly-infectious-disease patients was 48.89 ( SD = 18.50). The results of a multiple linear regression analysis revealed participants aged 35-44 and older than 45 years experienced higher levels of stress while caring for highly-infectious-disease patients than their counterparts aged 25-34 years (β = 0.64, p = .006; β = 0.56, p = .027). Also, participants with 11-20 years of work experience reported lower stress in caring for highly-infectious-disease patients than their counterparts with <10 years of work experience (β = -0.46, p = .049).

Conclusion/implications for practice: In this study, nurse practitioners aged 35 years and above and those with <10 years of work experience experienced greater stress following the COVID-19 pandemic. As the first study to explore psychological distress among nurse practitioners in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated factors, these findings highlight the need for hospital administrators to implement support measures to support nurse practitioners tailored to age group and family status to mitigate long-term psychological distress and its impact on fatigue and care quality.