Stress, Anxiety, and Growth in Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The global pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) declared in March 2020 has created unprecedented challenges for healthcare professionals and organizations. A significant impact has been physical and psychological stress on nurses working in acute care environments. Stress-related growth may occur concurrently with the experience of negative psychological responses as another facet of coping and adjustment to the stressful event. The primary aim of this study was to describe the degree to which nurses reported stress, anxiety, and stress-related growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article discusses the study methods, which included a cross-sectional design with an online survey sent to nurses in a hospital system. Results demonstrated that, of the 1,009 participants in the final analysis, almost 70% reported anxiety symptoms, with 38% having scores at the moderate or severe level. Growth scores were low. Our discussion considers cultural implications of the findings and implications for practice that underscore the need for proactive interventions to mitigate the psychological burden of the pandemic on nurses and the need to implement routine screening of nurses for anxiety.