Covid-19 Psychological Trauma and its Associated Factors among Nurses in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Background: COVID-19’s sudden uprising and proliferation causes fear and psychological distress in the general public. Its pandemic nature is associated with psychological distress and symptoms of mental illness. Hence, it becomes imperative to pay attention to the mental health of nurses who are caring for patients during the outbreak. Methodology: A cross-sectional study among 161 nurses in southwest Nigeria. An Online questionnaires were sent to nurses through social media applications. In addition to socio-demographic and work-related variables, psychological trauma was measured using Kessler-10 psychological distress scale. Descriptive statistics, Chi square test, and binary logistic regression were used in the analysis. All analysis were done using Stata MP 16. Results: COVID-19 related psychological trauma was 27.4% among nurses. Majority of the respondents were females (82.6 %), Christians (85.7%), and urban residents (88.2%).About 85.7% of the nurses were Yoruba by tribe. About a half of the nurses (48.4%) had less than 10 years work experience. Muslims (AOR: 4.17, CI: 1.27- 13.76) were 4.17 times more likely to have COVID-19 related psychological trauma compared to Christians. Also, nurses who had no contact with COVID-19 patients (AOR: 0.09, CI: 0.02- 0.49) were less likely to have COVID-19 related psychological trauma. Conclusion: COVID-19-related psychological trauma was notably high among the nurses, and associated risk factors were religion and contact with COVID-19 patient. Nurses should be given adequate attention in terms of programmes or training that is capable of improving their competence in handling COVID-19 patients and boost their psychological health during the pandemic.