Fear of contagion: a response to stress?

Fear of Contagion Among Nursing Students in the Era of COVID-19

BACKGROUND

COVID-19 quickly spread to pandemic proportions, resulting in anxiety and fear for many students. The Fear of Contagion model was explored in first-semester nursing students.

METHOD

This study used a qualitative design with content analysis of narrative responses to questions derived from the Fear of Contagion model and an a priori template based on the model.

RESULTS

The results included five themes: (a) doing their part to prevent the spread but wanting to do more; (b) making specific behavior changes to prevent the spread and effects of the virus; (c) experiencing fear, anxiety, and stress; (d) uncertainty but hopefulness; and (e) positive regard and concern for others.

CONCLUSION

Fear of contagion in this study reflected many of the elements of the original model. Interventions to not only reduce fear but also facilitate education are recommended for nursing educators. [J Nurs Educ. 2021;60(7):404-407.].

COVID-19: Fear, quackery, false representations and the law

Fear, anxiety and even paranoia can proliferate during a pandemic. Such conditions, even when subclinical, tend to be a product of personal and predispositional factors, as well as shared cultural influences, including religious, literary, film, and gaming, all of which can lead to emotional and less than rational responses. They can render people vulnerable to engage in implausible conspiracy theories about the causes of illness and governmental responses to it. They can also lead people to give credence to simplistic and unscientific misrepresentations about medications and devices which are claimed to prevent, treat or cure disease. In turn such vulnerability creates predatory opportunities for the unscrupulous. This article notes the eruption of quackery during the 1889-1892 Russian Flu and the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu and the emergence during 2020 of spurious claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies consumer protection strategies and interventions formulated during the 2020 pandemic. Using examples from the United States, Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom, it argues that during a pandemic there is a need for three responses by government to the risks posed by conspiracy theories and false representations: calm, scientifically-based messaging from public health authorities; cease and desist warnings directed toward those making extravagant or inappropriate claims; and the taking of assertive and well publicised legal action against individuals and entities that make false representations in order to protect consumers rendered vulnerable by their emotional responses to the phenomenology of the pandemic.

Registered nurses' willingness to serve populations on the periphery of society

PURPOSE

To (a) determine the relative combined contributions of age, highest level of education, gender, and nursing certification on registered nurses' values, and (b) to identify the relative combined contributions of age, highest level of education, gender, nursing certification, and values on registered nurses' willingness to serve underserved and disenfranchised populations.

DESIGN

Survey.

METHODS

Web-based anonymous survey containing the AACN Values QuestionnaireNurse, the Willingness to Serve the Underserved and Disenfranchised Scale, and a demographic questionnaire were used to assess the meaning that participants attach to seven values; the willingness of participants to care for members of diverse groups; and participant demographic information. Data analysis was accomplished using regression analyses with a convenience sample of 128.

FINDINGS

Age and highest level of education showed significant combined contributions to the values scores; however, these variables, including values, were not significant in predicting nurses' willingness to serve underserved and disenfranchised populations.

CONCLUSIONS

Demographic characteristics (age and level of education) showed limited influence on values, but no variables included in this study were significantly associated with registered nurses' willingness to serve populations on the periphery of society.