Understanding Stress Coping Strategies Among Nurses Providing Care for COVID-19 Patients: A Qualitative Study

Background: Identifying and applying stress coping strategies by nurses, especially nurses working in the COVID department, in order to control stress more effectively are essential in improving health conditions caused by COVID-19 in these medical staffs.Objective: This study was conducted with the aim of investigating stress coping strategies used by nurses caring for patients with COVID-19.Methods: This qualitative research was conducted during May and June 2023 in which we used the method of qualitative content analysis. In this study, 14 nurses working in the COVID department of Imam Reza Medical Education Center were interviewed. Data collection continued through semistructured deep interviews until data saturation.Results: The findings of this study included 25 themes that were generally placed in three main categories: (1) factors causing personnel stress, (2) disturbance of people's psychological balance, and (3) using coping methods.Conclusion: Knowing strategies that nurses choose to deal with stressful conditions such as the outbreak of COVID-19 can be a factor that helps healthcare institutions to provide solutions to reduce the stress of nurses. Therefore, taking effective measures to improve the working conditions of nurses will lead to providing better services to patients and thus increasing the efficiency of the healthcare system.