TY - GEN A1 - Schulze, Susanne A1 - Merz, Sibille A1 - Thier, Anne A1 - Tallarek, Marie A1 - König, Franziska A1 - Uhlenbrock, Greta A1 - Nübling, Matthias A1 - Lincke, Hans-Joachim A1 - Rapp, Michael A. A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Holmberg, Christine T1 - Psychosocial burden in nurses working in nursing homes during the Covid-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study with quantitative and qualitative data T2 - BMC health services research N2 - Background: The Covid-19 pandemic led to increased work-related strain and psychosocial burden in nurses worldwide, resulting in high prevalences of mental health problems. Nurses in long-term care facilities seem to be especially affected by the pandemic. Nevertheless, there are few findings indicating possible positive changes for health care workers. Therefore, we investigated which psychosocial burdens and potential positive aspects nurses working in long-term care facilities experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study among nurses and nursing assistants working in nursing homes in Germany. The survey contained the third German version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ III). Using Welch's t-tests, we compared the COPSOQ results of our sample against a pre-pandemic reference group of geriatric nurses from Germany. Additionally, we conducted semi-structured interviews with geriatric nurses with a special focus on psychosocial stress, to reach a deeper understanding of their experiences on work-related changes and burdens during the pandemic. Data were analysed using thematic coding (Braun and Clarke). Results: Our survey sample (n = 177) differed significantly from the pre-pandemic reference group in 14 out of 31 COPSOQ scales. Almost all of these differences indicated negative changes. Our sample scored significantly worse regarding the scales 'quantitative demands', 'hiding emotions', 'work-privacy conflicts', 'role conflicts', 'quality of leadership', 'support at work', 'recognition', 'physical demands', 'intention to leave profession', 'burnout', 'presenteeism' and 'inability to relax'. The interviews (n = 15) revealed six main themes related to nurses' psychosocial stress: 'overall working conditions', 'concern for residents', 'management of relatives', 'inability to provide terminal care', 'tensions between being infected and infecting others' and 'technicisation of care'. 'Enhanced community cohesion' (interviews), 'meaning of work' and 'quantity of social relations' (COPSOQ III) were identified as positive effects of the pandemic. Conclusions: Results clearly illustrate an aggravation of geriatric nurses' situation and psychosocial burden and only few positive changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pre-existing hardships seem to have further deteriorated and new stressors added to nurses' strain. The perceived erosion of care, due to an overemphasis of the technical in relation to the social and emotional dimensions of care, seems to be especially burdensome to geriatric nurses. KW - COPSOQ KW - Covid-19 KW - Mixed-methods study KW - Nurses KW - Nursing home KW - Psychosocial burden Y1 - 2022 UR - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35883124/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08333-3 SN - 1472-6963 VL - 22 SP - 1 EP - 13 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schulze, Susanne A1 - Merz, Sibille A1 - Lincke, Hans-Joachim A1 - Nübling, Matthias A1 - Rapp, Michael A. A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Tallarek, Marie A1 - Thier, Anne Kathrin A1 - Holmberg, Christine T1 - Psychosocial burden in nurses working in nursing homes during the Covid-19 pandemic T2 - 21. Deutscher Kongress für Versorgungsforschung (DKVF) : 05.10.-07.10.2022, Potsdam N2 - Background: Nurses’ work-related strain and psychological burden increased during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in high prevalences of mental health problems among nurses worldwide. Nurses in long-term care facilities seem to be particularly prone to overall heightened burden and poor mental health. Research question: We investigated which work-related psychosocial burdens and potential positive aspects nurses working in nursing homes experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. Method: We conducted a mixed-methods study. Eligible for participation were nurses and nursing assistants working in nursing homes within the state of Brandenburg, Germany. Between August and October 2020, we distributed an anonymous survey containing the third German version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ III). Using Welch’s t-tests, we compared the COPSOQ results of our sample against a pre-pandemic reference group of geriatric nurses, drawn from the German COPSOQ databank and kindly shared by the Freiburg Research Centre for Occupational Science. In June 2021, we also conducted semi-structured interviews with geriatric nurses to reach a deeper understanding of their experiences on work-related changes and burdens during the first phases of the pandemic. Data were analysed using thematic coding (Braun and Clarke). Results: Our survey sample (n=177) differed significantly from the reference group in 14 out of 31 COPSOQ scales. Amongst others, our sample scored significantly worse regarding the scales ‘support at work’, ‘recognition’, ‘quantitative demands’, ‘hiding emotions’, ‘role conflicts’, ‘intention to leave profession’, ‘burnout’ and ‘inability to relax’. The interviews (n=17) revealed five main themes related to nurses’ psychosocial stress: ‘overall working conditions under the hygiene measures’, ‘concern for isolated residents’, ‘management of relatives’, ‘inability to provide terminal care‘, ‘tensions between being infected and infecting others’ and ‘technicisation of care’. ‘Enhanced community cohesion’ and ‘meaning of work’ were identified as positive effects of the pandemic. Discussion: Results indicate that nurses in nursing homes experience enhanced psychosocial and work-related strain. The comparisons with the pre-pandemic reference group suggest that the situation further aggravated during the pandemic. Nurses exhibited high psychosocial burden, e.g., due to strongly impeded possibilities to fulfill the emotional and social dimensions of care and the constant fear of infection or transmission. Deteriorated working conditions (e.g., higher workload through staff shortages and additional tasks) further exacerbated these burdens. Few positive aspects of the pandemic may be important sources of resilience. Practical implications: The reduction of nurses’ strain through psychosocial support and the improvement of working conditions is crucial for the protection of nurses’ health. Appeal for practice in one sentence: Political players as well as care facilities should take measures to improve nurses’ situation in order to maintain a healthy workforce and high-quality care. KW - Psychosocial burden KW - Nursing home KW - Covid-19 Y1 - 2022 UR - https://www.egms.de/static/de/meetings/dkvf2022/22dkvf025.shtml U6 - https://doi.org/10.3205/22dkvf025 PB - German Medical Science GMS Publishing House CY - Düsseldorf ER -