Can resilience promote calling among Chinese nurses in intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic? The mediating role of thriving at work and moderating role of ethical leadership

Thriving at work, career calling, and moral distress among nurses

BACKGROUND

Emergency nurses who thrive at work experience positive emotions that help reduce burnout and thus enhance career calling. However, few studies have focused on the relationships among thriving at work, career calling, and moral distress among emergency nurses.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the relationships among thriving at work, career calling, and moral distress and to explore the mediating role of career calling in the relationship between thriving at work and moral distress among emergency nurses.

DESIGN

A quantitative, cross-sectional study.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted by reference to 390 emergency nurses in China using an online survey that include the Thriving at Work Scale, the Career Calling Scale, and the Moral Distress Scale-Revised. The data were analyzed using SmartPLS software.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hunan Normal University (No. 2023-388).

FINDINGS

Among emergency nurses, thriving at work is positively associated with career calling, while career calling is negatively associated with moral distress. Career calling negatively and completely mediates the relationship between thriving at work and moral distress (β = -0.087, p < 0.01).

DISCUSSION

Theoretically, the findings enhance our understanding of the relationships among thriving at work, career calling, and moral distress among emergency nurses.

CONCLUSION

By emphasizing the benefits of thriving at work, nursing managers can improve nurses' level of thriving at work by providing a favorable environment, a flexible scheduling system, and appropriate authorization as well as by ensuring organizational fairness and providing training opportunities in a hierarchical manner.

The relationship between role ambiguity, emotional exhaustion and work alienation among chinese nurses two years after COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

work alienation is receiving increasing attention as a psychological risk at work, and little is known about the mechanisms of role ambiguity and work alienation in nurses in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article aims to examine how role ambiguity affects work alienation among Chinese nurses during the two years after COVID-19 pandemic and verify emotional exhaustion as mediators.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study design was used to recruit 281 Chinese nurses. Nurses completed online questionnaires containing demographic characteristics, role ambiguity, emotional exhaustion, and work alienation, and SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0 were used for data analysis and structural equation modelling.

RESULTS

work alienation scores were (34.64 ± 10.09), work alienation was correlated with role ambiguity and emotional exhaustion (r1 = 0.521, r2 = 0.755; p < .01), and role ambiguity was positively correlated with emotional exhaustion (r = 0.512; p < .01). A mediating effect of emotional exhaustion between role ambiguity and work alienation held (mediating effect of 0.288, 95% CI: 0.221-0.369, accounting for 74.8% of the total effect).

CONCLUSION

Role ambiguity has a significant direct effect on nurses' feelings of alienation and exacerbates alienation through emotional exhaustion. Clarifying roles at work and being less emotionally drained are effective ways to reduce nurses' feelings of alienation.

COVID-19 pandemic in the intensive care unit: Psychological implications and interventions, a systematic review

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic produced changes in intensive care units (ICUs) in patient care and health organizations. The pandemic event increased patients’ risk of developing psychological symptoms during and after hospitalisation. These consequences also affected those family members who could not access the hospital. In addition, the initial lack of knowledge about the virus and its management, the climate of fear and uncertainty, the increased workload and the risk of becoming infected and being contagious, had a strong impact on healthcare staff and organizations. This highlighted the importance of interventions aimed at providing psychological support to ICUs, involving patients, their relatives, and the staff; this might involve the reorganisation of the daily routine and rearrangement of ICU staff duties.

AIM

To conduct a systematic review of psychological issues in ICUs during the COVID-19 pandemic involving patients, their relatives, and ICU staff.

METHODS

We investigated the PubMed and the ClinicalTrials.gov databases and found 65 eligible articles, upon which we commented.

RESULTS

Our results point to increased perceived stress and psychological distress in staff, patients and their relatives and increased worry for being infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 in patients and relatives. Furthermore, promising results were obtained for some psychological programmes aiming at improving psychological measures in all ICU categories.

CONCLUSION

As the pandemic limited direct inter-individual interactions, the role of interventions using digital tools and virtual reality is becoming increasingly important. All considered, our results indicate an essential role for psychologists in ICUs.

Moderating Role of Peer Pressure and Positive Learning Environment Between Career Calling and Academic Procrastination in Chinese Medical Students During Controlled COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic sets specific circumstances that may accelerate academic procrastination behavior of medical students. Career calling is a protective factor that fights against academic procrastination and may further improve medical students' mental health and academic achievement. This study aims to determine the status of Chinese medical students' academic procrastination during controlled COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the study investigates the relationships and mechanisms among career calling, peer pressure, a positive learning environment, and academic procrastination.

Patients and Methods

Data were collected from several Chinese medical universities through an anonymous cross-sectional survey of 3614 respondents (effective response rate = 60.0%). Using online questionnaires to collect the data and IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 for statistical analysis.

Results

The average score of academic procrastination of Chinese medical students was 2.62±0.86. This study proved the usage of peer pressure and positive learning environment as moderating roles of relationship between career calling and academic procrastination. Career calling was negatively correlated with academic procrastination (r = -0.232, p < 0.01), while it was positively correlated with peer pressure (r = 0.390, p < 0.01) and a positive learning environment (r = 0.339, p < 0.01). Moreover, academic procrastination was negatively correlated with peer pressure (r = -0.279, p < 0.01) and a positive learning environment (r = -0.242, p < 0.01). Peer pressure was positively correlated with a positive learning environment (r = 0.637, p < 0.01).

Conclusion

The findings emphasize the importance of constructive peer pressure and a positive learning environment that discourages academic procrastination. Educators should highlight medical career calling education by offering related courses to fight against academic procrastination.