Predictors of depressive symptoms and effective coping strategies among open and distance learning nursing students

Disaster preparedness in healthcare professionals amid COVID-19 and beyond: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND

Disasters like COVID-19 are oftentimes inevitable, which makes disaster preparedness indispensable to global health and social stability. However, there is a dearth of understanding of how well healthcare professionals, who often have to work at the epicenter of disasters as they evolve, are trained to be sufficiently prepared for these crises. To this end, this study aims to examine the characteristics and effectiveness of existing interventions that aim to improve healthcare professionals' disaster preparedness.

METHODS

We searched RCTs that aim to improve healthcare professionals' disaster preparedness in databases including PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus. Results were screened against the eligibility criteria. The review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020192517) and conducted following the PRISMA guidelines.

RESULTS

A total of 7382 articles were screened for eligibility, among which, 27 RCTs, incorporating 35,145, met the inclusion criteria. Review results show that most of the eligible RCTs were conducted in high-income countries. Only two RCTs were developed in disaster contexts that share similarities with COVID-19. Most of the interventions did not address critical disaster coping abilities, such as how can healthcare professionals protect or improve their personal or the general public's mental health amid pandemics. Furthermore, almost half of the disaster preparedness RCTs failed to generate statistically significant outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Albeit inevitable, disasters are preventable. Our study results underscore the imperative of designing and developing effective and comprehensive interventions that could boost healthcare professionals' disaster preparedness, so that these frontline workers can better protect personal and public health amid global crises like COVID-19.

Turning to Religion During COVID-19 (Part II): A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis and Meta-regression of Studies on the Relationship between Religious Coping and Mental Health throughout COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and the many associated socio-economic changes constitute a stressful event that required adaptation to new, dynamic, and often threatening conditions. According to the literature, coping strategies are one of the factors that determine a person's degree of adaptation to stressful situations. A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed on the relationship between religious coping and selected indicators of mental health. Due to the large amount of data, this work has been divided into two parts: Part I discussed the positive mental health indicators (Pankowski & Wytrychiewicz-Pankowska, 2023), while this Part II discusses negative mental health indicators. A systematic review of the databases of Science Direct, EBSCO, Cochrane, PubMed, and Google Scholar identified 33 articles related to the severity of depressive symptoms: 30 to anxiety, 23 to stress, 1 related to PTSD symptoms and peritraumatic stress, and 5 related to general negative mental health. The limitations of the research as well as further directions for exploration are discussed.Clinical trial registration This Review was pre-registered at OSF: osf.io/54ygr ( https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GMNFV ).

Turning to Religion During COVID-19 (Part I): A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis and Meta-regression of Studies on the Relationship Between Religious Coping and Mental Health Throughout COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and the many associated socio-economic changes constitute a stressful event that required adaptation to new, dynamic, and often threatening conditions. According to the literature, coping strategies are one of the factors that determine a person's degree of adaptation to stressful situations. A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed on the relationship between religious coping and selected indicators of mental health. Due to the large amount of data, this work has been divided into two parts: this first part discusses positive mental health indicators, while the second discusses negative mental health indicators (Pankowski & Wytrychiewicz-Pankowska, 2023). A systematic review of PubMed, Science Direct, the Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, and Google Scholar databases was carried out. In addition to the synthesis of information obtained from the research, a meta-analysis of correlation was also performed to determine the strengths of the relationships between the analysed variables, and selected moderators were assessed using meta-regression. Quality of life, well-being, satisfaction with life, happiness, and post-traumatic growth were the positive mental health indicators considered. Meta-analyses indicated a statistically significant relationship between positive religious coping and flourishing (well-being) with overall correlation values of 0.35 [0.30; 0.40]. Further calculations also indicated a relationship between negative religious coping and flourishing - 0.25 [- 0.34; - 0.15]. Data synthesis shows associations between religious coping and such indicators as satisfaction with life and post-traumatic growth, but these issues require further investigation.

Prevalence of and risk factors associated with depression among nursing students acting on the frontline of COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Introduction

The widespread devastation caused by the ongoing waves of COVID-19 imposed a significant burden on the healthcare labor force. At the frontline in the battle against the deadly COVID-19 virus, nursing students in Vietnam were at a much-increased risk of developing mental health conditions. This study aims to identify the prevalence of depression and its related factors, along with coping strategies used by nursing students in the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam.

Materials and methods

The study was cross-sectional in nature, with convenient sampling at the epicenters of COVID-19 outbreaks in Vietnam (N = 191) from April to November 2021. After conducting a questionnaire pilot, the data was collected strictly using an internet-based approach. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 items were used to identify the risk of depression among nursing students. The Chi-square test was used to assess the differences between coping strategies among nursing students. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify risk factors associated with depression.

Findings

The percentage of nursing students affected by depression was 21.5%, and almost half of the nursing students (49.2%) had no coping strategies for dealing with mental health concerns. Among the remaining nursing students, video-based mental consultation was the most popular method (25.7%). Being females (AOR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.1-6.7), collecting bio-samples (AOR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.4-6.2), providing support to vaccination spots (AOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1-5.1), and not vaccinating against COVID-19 (AOR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.1-9.1) were found as risk factors for depression among nursing students.

Conclusion

Our research revealed a significant number of nursing students suffering from depressive symptoms and underscoring the need for more effective methods of dealing with this condition. Depression management and coping skills focusing on female populations and those whose direct contacts with infectious sources should be implemented in the nursing curricula and continuous training credits. Those trainings, would support future nurses in handling crisis situations better.

Moderating Role of Coping Style on the Relationship between Stress and Psychological Well-Being in Hong Kong Nursing Students

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To examine whether coping styles moderate the influence of stressors and psychological well-being in Hong Kong nursing students.

BACKGROUND

Stress could contribute to psychological distress in nursing students. Coping strategies are essential to mitigate psychological distress. So far, the moderating effects of coping between stressors and psychological well-being has not been thoroughly investigated.

DESIGN

This is a cross-sectional study conducted at four higher education institutions in Hong Kong.

METHODS

We recruited a convenience sample of 293 nursing students in February 2018. The Stressors in Nursing Students Scale-Chinese version (SINS-CN), Brief Cope Inventory-Chinese version (Brief COPE-C), and the Chinese version of the General Health Questionnaire-12 (C-GHQ-12) were used to measure the stressors, coping styles, and psychological well-being, respectively. Three multiple hierarchical linear regression models were used to identify the associations between the variables.

RESULTS

The stressors related to clinical learning, confidence, and personal problems were significant in explaining the psychological well-being. The coping strategies also predicted the psychological well-being and explained 44.5% of the variance. The coping strategy-accommodation-moderated the relationship between personal problems and psychological well-being.

CONCLUSION

Problem-solving and accommodation types of coping were adaptive to stress and effective in promoting psychological well-being. However, using accommodation to cope with stressors related to personal problems will exacerbate the negative effects of the personal problems on the psychological well-being.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

This study reveals the relationships between stressors, coping, and psychological well-being. Nurse educators must be aware of nursing student coping styles so they may devise strategies to promote effective coping to reduce the psychological distress among nursing students.