Psychological impact of caring during the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV nurses

Piercy, Hilary; Kelly, Shona; Wills, Matthew; Croston, Michelle

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a set of unprecedented challenges for healthcare services and staff. The authors conducted a national online survey of nurses employed to work in HIV services in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to establish how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the professional quality of life of HIV nurses. Professional quality of life was assessed using the ProQOL scale; 132 nurses completed the survey, 99 of whom completed the ProQOL scale. Just over 1 in 3 were redeployed in the first pandemic wave, dropping to 1 in 6 in subsequent waves. In multivariate analysis, redeployment in both waves increased burnout scores by nearly 10 points and decreased compassion satisfaction scores by nearly 5 points, with no effect on secondary traumatic stress scores. A supportive workplace environment will have a key role in supporting the path to recovery.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jan 12, 2022
• Publication Date: Jan 13, 2022
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 13, 2022
• Journal: British Journal of Nursing
• Print ISSN: 0966-0461
• Electronic ISSN: 2052-2819
• Publisher: Mark Allen Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 1
• Pages: S10-S15
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2022.31.1.s10
• Keywords: General Nursing
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7648573
• Publisher URL: https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/full/10.12968/bjon.2022.31.1.S10
• Additional Information: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in British Journal of Nursing, copyright © MA Healthcare, after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see [journal link]."