Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2020 Aug 7;15(8):e0237303.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237303. eCollection 2020.

Emotional responses and coping strategies in nurses and nursing students during Covid-19 outbreak: A comparative study

Long Huang  1   2 , Wansheng Lei  1 , Fuming Xu  3 , Hairong Liu  2 , Liang Yu  2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Emotional responses and coping strategies in nurses and nursing students during Covid-19 outbreak: A comparative study

Long Huang et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in December has seen more than 76,000 cases in China, causing more than 3,000 medical staff infections. As the disease is highly contagious, can be fatal in severe cases, and there are no specific medicines, it poses a huge threat to the life and health of nurses, leading to a severe impact on their emotional responses and coping strategies. Therefore, this study will investigate nurses' emotional responses and coping styles, and conduct a comparative study with nursing college students. This study was conducted through the online survey 'questionnaire star' from February 1st to February 20th, 2020 in Anhui Province, using the snowball sampling method to invite subjects. The results found that women showed more severe anxiety and fear than men. Participants from cities exhibited these symptoms more than participants from rural areas, however rural participants experienced more sadness than urban participants. The nearer a COVID-19 zone is to the participants, the stronger the anxiety and anger. The COVID-19 outbreak has placed immense pressure on hospitals and those nurses at the frontline are more seriously affected. Hospitals should focus on providing psychological support to nurses and training in coping strategies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

References

    1. World Health Organization. Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection when Novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection is suspected: interim guidance. Jan 11, 2020. https://www.who.int/internalpublications-detail/clinicalmanagement-of-se...(ncov)-infection-is-suspected (accessed Jan 30, 2020)
    1. Special Expert Group for Control of the Epidemic of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia of the Chinese Preventive Medicine. (2020). An update on the epidemiological characteristics of novel coronavirus pneumonia(COVID-19). Chinese Journal of Epidemiology, 41(2): 139–144 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0254-6450.2020.02.002 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gao JL, Zheng PP, Jia YN, et al (2/17/2020). Mental Health Problems and Social Media Exposure During COVID-19 Outbreak. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3541120 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chiu HFK, Lam LCW, Chiu E (2003). SARS andpsychogeriatric–perspective and lessons from Hong Kong. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18: 871–873. 10.1002/gps.1003 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Leung PC, Ooi EE (2003). SARS War: Combating the Disease. New Jersey: World Scientific.

Publication types

MeSH terms