Investigation on psychological behavior, work stress and social support of front-line department nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic: Observational Questionnaire Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND In the early 2020, people across the whole world experienced severe negative impacts on their health, family life and financial stability due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Brian, et al., 2020). There has been emerging evidence that the COVID pandemic and the measures adopted can increase the severity of pre-existing mental diseases and cause new symptoms in individuals with no previous disorders (Cullen et al., 2020). Nurses always play the most indispensable role in any battle against infectious diseases, and they are in the closest contact with patients and danger. Apart from threats to their personal life, front-line nursing staff are also under great psychological pressure and work pressure that are unimaginable by ordinary people. This study conducted a psychological survey among 248 nurses from the first-line departments of three large general hospitals in Sichuan Province, so as to understand the perception and response of nursing staff at the first-line departments to battle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychological and behavioral characteristics of nursing staff during the epidemic of major infectious diseases, the characteristics of work psychological load and social support, and the correlations among various factors. Hopefully, this study provided basic data and scientific basis to establish an effective psychological intervention mechanism for public health emergencies. OBJECTIVE This paper discussed the emotional characteristics and psychological stress at work of nursing staff , and social support during the COVID-19 pandemic epidemic, which provided basic data and scientific support for group psychological intervention in public health emergencies. METHODS By adopting the convenience sampling method, altogether 248 in-service nursing staff from the first-line departments of three large general hospitals in Sichuan Province were selected as the survey objects. In this study, the network platform was used to investigate the risk perception and coping methods of the COVID-19 pandemic, negative emotions and psychological workload of nurses, and awareness of social support among the nursing staff. Meanwhile, the psychological negative emotions and workload of nurses together with the social support were analyzed. RESULTS The degree and positive rate of negative emotions among nurses from front-line departments increased significantly, of which, fear was the most common (73.4%)（182/248）.The psychological load of nurses in close contact with people infected with the COVID-19 pandemic was higher than that of nurses in other positions（P＜0.05）. Family was the major source of social support received by nurses at front-line department. Social support was negatively correlated with depression in negative emotions (-0.206, P <0.05), anxiety-compulsion(-0.185, P <0.05), and suspicious emotions(-0.234, P <0.05). Besides, the psychological workload of nurses was positively correlated with depression in negative emotions (0.251, P <0.05), neurasthenia (0.242, P <0.05), and anxiety-force (0.231, P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS Nursing staff at front-line departments experience psychological crisis and work pressure to various degrees during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, it is particularly important to strengthen psychological counseling for nurses in close contact positions, and to seek family and social emotional support for the nursing staff.