Revealing The COVID-19 Fear, Job Satisfaction and Intolerance of Uncertainty in Clinician Nurses During the Pandemic

Year 2023, Volume: 8 Issue: 3, 301 - 318, 28.11.2023

İlknur Demirhan Esra Arslan Gürcüoğlu

Abstract

Aim: This descriptive study was conducted to determine the levels of fear of COVID-19, job satisfaction and intolerance of uncertainty of clinician nurses during the pandemic.
Methods: The study was conducted online to reach clinician nurses across various provinces in Turkey, primarily due to the ongoing pandemic. Data was gathered from a total of 220 clinician nurses who took part in the study from April 30 to August 1, 2022. The data collection tools employed in the study included a Descriptive Information Form, the COVID-19 Fear Scale, the Job Satisfaction Scale, and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale for Clinical Nurses.
Results: The study findings indicate that the nurses in the research exhibited a fear of COVID-9 at nearly a moderate level (with an average score of 16.33±5.82). Their job satisfaction was above the average range, with a mean score of 122.12±17.53. Additionally, the nurses displayed a moderate level of intolerance of uncertainty, as indicated by an average score of 38.55±8.97.
Conclusion: The study revealed a noteworthy positive correlation between nurses' fear of COVID-19 and their intolerance of uncertainty. However, no significant relationship was observed between job satisfaction and these factors. Nevertheless, it's important to note that variables such as age, education level, working style, and the voluntary choice of the nursing profession were found to exert significant influences on job satisfaction.

Keywords

COVID-19 Fear, Job Satisfaction, Intolerance Of Uncertainty

References

• Abid, M., Riaz, M., Bano, Z., Parveen, T., Umar Fayyaz, M. & Sadia Qureshi, H. (2021). Association between fear of COVID-19 and emotional distress in nurses with mediating role of socio-demographic features. Front Psychol, 12:734623.
• Al Sulais, E., Mosli, M. & AlAmeel, T. (2020). The psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on physicians in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study, Saudi J Gastroenterol, 2020;26(5):249-255.
• Ahorsu, D. K., Lin, C. Y., Imani, V., Saffari, M., Griffiths, M. D. & Pakpour A.H. (2020). The fear of COVID-19 scale: development and initial validation, Int J Ment Health Addict, 20:1537–1545.
• Artan, T., Meydan, S. & Irmak, H. S. (2021). Turkish version of the fear of COVID-19 scale: validity and reliability study. Arch Health Sci Res, 8(2):117-123.
• Aydın, A. & Özcan, B. E. (2021). Levels of intolerance of uncertainty, rumination and resilience among healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, Cukurova Med J, 46(3):1191- 1200.
• Bakioğlu, F., Korkmaz, O. & Ercan H. (2020). Fear of COVID-19 and positivity: Mediating role of intolerance of uncertainty, depression, anxiety, and stress. Int J of Mental Health and Addict, 19(6):2369-2382.
• Boelen, P. A., Reijntjes, A. & Smid, G. E. (2016). Concurrent and prospective associations of intolerance of uncertainty with symptoms of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, and depression after bereavement. J Anxiety Disord, 41:65-72.
• Chen, S. C., Lai, Y. H. & Tsay, S. L. (2020). Nursing perspectives on the impacts of COVID-19. J Nurs Res, 28:e85. doı: 10.1097/jnr.0000000000000389
• Carleton, R. N., Mulvogue, M. K., Thibodeau, M. A., McCabe, R. E., Antony, M. M. & Asmundson, G. J. (2012). Increasingly certain about uncertainty: Intolerance of uncertainty across anxiety and depression. J Anxiety Disord, 26(3):468-479.
• Carleton, R. N., Norton, M. A. P. J., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2007). Fearing the unknown: A short version of the Intolerance Of Uncertainty Scale. J Anxiety Disord, 21(1):105-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.03.014
• Çağan, Ö. & Koca, B. (2020). Klinik Hemşireler İçin İş Doyum Ölçeği’nin Türkçe formunun psikometrik özelliklerinin incelenmesi, DEUHFED, 13(2):49-58.
• Çayır Yılmaz, M. & Uysal, N. (2021). Klinisyen hemşirelerde COVID-19 korkusu ve mesleğe bağlılık düzeyinin belirlenmesi. Ordu Üniversitesi J Nurse Stud, 4(3):316-325.
• Duman, N. (2020). Üniversite öğrencilerinde Covid-19 korkusu ve belirsizliğe tahammülsüzlük. The Journal of Social Science, 4:426-37. https://doi.org/10.38108/ouhcd.886634.
• Dymecka, J., Gerymski, R., Machnik-Czerwik, A., Derbis, R. & Bidzan, M. (2021). Fear of COVID-19 and life satisfaction: The role of the health-related hardiness and sense of coherence. Front Psychiatry, 12:712103. https://doi.org/10.5114/hpr.2020.102136.
• Enli Tuncay, F., Koyuncu, E. & Özel, Ş. (2020). Pandemilerde sağlık çalışanlarının psikososyal sağlığını etkileyen koruyucu ve risk faktörlerine ilişkin bir derleme. Ankara Med J , 20(2):488-501. doi: 10.5505/amj.2020.02418.
• Erkal-Aksoy, Y. & Koçak, V. (2020). Psychological effects of nurses and midwives due to COVID19 outbreak: The case of Turkey. Arch Psychiatr Nurs, 34(5):427-433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2020.07.011.
• Fu, C., Ren, Y., Wang, G., Shi, X. & Cao, F. (2021). Fear of future workplace violence and its influencing factors among nurses in Shandong, China: a cross-sectional study. BMC Nurs, 20(1):123. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00644-w.
• Giallonardo, V., Sampogna, G., Del Vecchio, V., Luciano, M., Albert, U., Carmassi, C., et al. (2020). The impact of quarantine and physical distancing following COVID-19 on mental health: Study protocol of a multicentric Italian population trial. Front Psychiatry, 11:533. doı:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00533.
• Giménez-Espert, M. D. C., Prado-Gascó, V. & Soto-Rubio, A. (2020). Psychosocial risks, work engagement, and job satisfaction of nurses during COVID-19 pandemic. Front Public Health, 8:566896. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.566896.
• Gritsenko, V., Skugarevsky, O., Konstantinov, V., Khamenka, N., Marinova, T., Reznik, A., Isralowitz, R. (2021). COVID 19 fear, stress, anxiety, and substance use among Russian and Belarusian University students. Int J Ment Health Addict, 19(6):2362- 2368. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00330-z.
• Huang, L., Lei, W., Xu, F., Liu, H. & Yu, L. (2020). Emotional responses and coping strategies in nurses and nursing students during Covid-19 outbreak: a comparative study. PLoS One, 15(8):e0237303. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237303.
• Hu, D., Kong, Y., Li, W., Han, Q., Zhang, X., Zhu, L.X., et al. (2020). Frontline nurses’ burnout, anxiety, depression, and fear statuses and their associated factors during the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China: A large-scale cross-sectional study. EClinical Medicine, 24:100424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100424.
• Kang, L., Li, Y., Hu, S., Chen, M., Yang, C., Yang, B. X., et al. (2020). The mental health of medical workers in Wuhan, China dealing with the 2019 novel coronavirus. Lancet Psychiatry, 7(3):e14. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30047-X.
• Labrague, L. J. & Janet de los Santos, A. A. (2021). Fear of COVID-19, psychological distress, work satisfaction and turnover intention among frontline nurses. Santos J Nurs Manag, 29(3):395–403. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13168.
• Lai, J., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Cai, Z., Hu, J. & Wei, N. (2020). Factors associated with mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to coronavirus disease. JAMA Netw Open, 3(3):e203976. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976.
• Lee, B. S., Eo, Y. S., Lee, M. A. (2018). Development of job satisfaction scale for clinical nurses. J Korean Acad Nurs, 48(1):12-25. https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2018.48.1.12
• Moussa, M. L., Moussa, F. L., Alharbi, H. A., Omer, T., Khallaf, S. A., Al Harbi, H. S. & Albarqi, A. A. (2021). Fear of nurses during COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional assessment. Front Psychol, 12:736103. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.736103.
• Özdemir, İ., Hergül, G. Ö., Öztürk, M. & Arslan, A. (2021). Covid-19 pandemi sürecinde bir pandemi hastanesinde görev yapmakta olan hemşirelerde, sosyodemografik değişkenler, belirsizliğe tahammülsüzlük ve umutsuzluk düzeylerinin, algılanan stres düzeylerine etkisinin incelenmesi. Ankara Eğt. Arş. Hast. Derg, 54(3):434-441. https://doi.org/10.20492/aeahtd.938762.
• Pakpour, A. H. & Griffiths, M. D. (2020). The fear of COVID19 and its role in preventive behaviors. Journal of Concurrent Disorder, 2(1):58-63.
• Piotrowski, A., Sygit-Kowalkowska, E., Boe, O. & Rawat, S. (2022). Resilience, occupational stress, job satisfaction, and intention to leave the organization among nurses and midwives during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 19(11):6826. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116826.
• Rettie, H. & Daniels, J. (2021). Coping and tolerance of uncertainty: Predictors and mediators of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am Psychol, 76(3):427-437. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000710.
• Saleem, Z., Majeed, M. M., Rafique, S., Siqqiqui, Z., Ghandhi, D., Tariq, H., et al. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic fear and anxiety among healthcare professionals in Pakistan. Research Square, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-37608/v2
• Sasaki, N., Kuroda, R., Tsuno, K. & Kawakami, N. (2020). The deterioration of mental health among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak: A population-based cohort study of workers in Japan. Scand J of Work Environ Health, 46(6):639-644. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3922.
• Sarıçam, H., Erguvan, F. M., Akın, A. & Akça, M. Ş. (2014). The Turkish short version of the Intolerance of Uncertainty (IUS-12) Scale: The study of validity and reliability. Route Educational and Social Science Journal, 1(3):148-157.
• Sarı, S. & Dağ, İ. (2009). Belirsizliğe Tahammülsüzlük Ölçeği, Endişe ile İlgili Olumlu İnançlar Ölçeği ve Endişenin Sonuçları Ölçeği’nin Türkçeye uyarlanması, geçerliliği ve güvenilirliği. Anadolu Psikiyatri Dergisi, 10(4):261-270.
• Said, R. M. & El-Shafel, D. A. (2021). Occupational stress, job satisfaction, and intent to leave: nurses working on front lines during COVID-19 pandemic in Zagazig City, Egypt. Environmental Sci Pollut Res Int, 28:8791–8801. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020- 11235-8.
• Smith, B. M., Twohy, A. J. & Smith, G. S. (2020). Psychological inflexibility and intolerance of uncertainty moderate the relationship between social isolation and mental health outcomes during COVID-19. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 18:162-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.09.005
• Vindegaard, N. & Benros, M. E. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and mental health consequences: systematic review of the current evidence. Brain Behav Immun, 89:531-542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.048.
• Zakiyah, A., Iswati, I., Rofi’ah, I. A., Cahyani, S. T. (2021). Work stress and job satisfaction of nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Advances in Health Sciences Research, 49:130- 136