General Health, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Coping Strategies of Nurses Working in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Units

Background:  Nurses working in the intensive care unit (ICU) are in direct contact with COVID-19 patients more than other members of healthcare team and are therefore more vulnerable to mental disorders. This study aimed to determine the general health status, post-traumatic stress disorder, and coping strategies of nurses working in the COVID-19 intensive care units. Methods: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Using census, 102 nurses working in the COVID-19 intensive care units of Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran were recruited as the sample in 2022. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), The Impact of Events-Revised (IES-R), and The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) were used as research instruments. The data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient, independent t-tests, and analysis of variance in SPSS-16 software. The significance level was set at P< 0.05.   Results: The overall mean of general health was 32.22 ± 12.21, indicating mild psychological distress in most nurses. Somatic symptoms had the highest mean (9.16 ± 4.06) among the GHQ-28 subscales. The mean post-traumatic stress disorder was 39.07 ± 14.79.   The means of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies were 48.03 ± 13.44 and 40.78 ± 11.70, respectively. In general, most nurses (60.8%) suffered post-traumatic stress symptoms and used problem-focused coping strategies to deal with stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no significant relationship between the main variables and the personal characteristics of the nurses (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Most nurses experienced mental disorders (general health disorders and post-traumatic stress) during COVID-19 pandemic. To reduce the psychological impact of COVID-19 on nurses, paying attention to their mental health is essential. Given the adverse effect of COVID-19 on nurses, studying the relationship between these variables and the quality of nurses' performance is suggested.