Factors influencing ruminative thinking behaviours in nurses: a cross-sectional study of 858 subjects in a tertiary care hospital

To the editor: Nurses play a vital role in healthcare by providing direct medical care to patients, and their mental well-being significantly impacts the quality of service and patient satisfaction.1 Ruminative thinking involves repetitive thoughts about negative feelings, their causes and consequences. This common psychological behaviour in nurses can significantly impact their self-evaluation and result in feelings of worthlessness.2 However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the risk factors influencing ruminative thinking in practising nurses. Ruminative thinking has been linked to psychological processes such as empathy, social support and feedback-seeking behaviours. Empathy is crucial for the quality of care, a positive nurse–patient relationship and reducing medical disputes.3 Social support encompasses the psychological and material assistance that individuals receive from their social networks. Adequate social support contributes to bolstering an individual’s self-esteem and maintaining psychological well-being. Feedback-seeking behaviour is an active psychological approach through which individuals seek valuable information to modify their behaviours and achieve personal and professional objectives.4 We hypothesised that practising nurses have specific personal and professional risk factors that are integrally associated with these psychological processes and ruminative thinking. By examining the current state of ruminative thinking in practising nurses and its associated factors, we aimed to fill the knowledge gap and provide a foundation for potential interventions for this important psychological condition. This study was conducted in a busy tertiary hospital with over 2000 beds and a nurse-to-patient ratio of approximately 1:10, in a city with a population of over 8 million. The survey was distributed using the Questionnaire Star application. The survey method was communicated to the head nurses of each nursing unit. The head nurses then explained these details to eligible nurses during focused learning or training sessions before distributing the Questionnaire Star QR code. All participants were made aware of the …