Purpose This study aimed to identify the factors that affect post-traumatic growth among frontline nurses during a COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: This study included 187 nurses working in nationally designated infectious disease hospitals as participants. Data were collected from January 11 to March 2, 2021 using structured questionnaires. Independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical multiple regressions were performed to examine influencing factors of post-traumatic growth.
Results: Posst-traumatic growth was positively correlated with traumatic event experience (r=.26, p<.001), post-traumatic stress (r=.32, p<.001), supervisor support (r=.39, p<.001), and colleague support (r=.36, p<.001). Factors affecting post-traumatic growth were emotional support of supervisors (β=.76, p<.001) and evaluative support of colleagues (β=.46, p<.018). Overall, approximately 40.0% of the variability in post-traumatic growth was explained by these two variables.
Conclusion: To increase emotional support of supervisors and evaluative support of colleagues, the most influential factors for post-traumatic growth of frontline nurses who fought against COVID-19, a positive culture must be established. This includes horizontal communication, a safe working environment, and securing of appropriate nurse to patient ratio.
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Factors Affecting Posttraumatic Growth of Nurses Caring for Patients with COVID-19 in Regional Medical Centers Jaehwa Bae, Eun Suk Choi Research in Community and Public Health Nursing.2025; 36: 9. CrossRef
Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that affect post-traumatic growth of general hospital nurses after they experience traumatic events. Methods A cross-sectional correlation study design was used. Participants were 232 nurses from general hospitals in South Korea. Data, including self-report questionnaires, were collected from July 11th to 31st, 2019, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, One-way ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficients and hierarchical multiple regression analysis in IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0. Results Post-traumatic stress (r=.24, p<.001), resilience (r=.36, p<.001), and social support (r=.37, p<.001) for general hospital nurses had a positive correlation with post-traumatic growth. The factors that affected post-traumatic growth were a) sleep disturbance, emotional paralysis and dissociation symptom subcategory of post-traumatic stress (β=.34, p<.001) and b) persistence subcategory of resilience (β=.33, p<.001) and c) evaluation support subcategory of social support (β=.29, p<.001). Conclusion Results indicate that it is necessary to develop and provide programs to nurses to improve post-traumatic stress management, strengthen their resilience and provide social support.
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Citations to this article as recorded by
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