“Taking care of nurses’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic is a public health issue”, says a group of researchers from CINTESIS – Center for Health Technology and Services Research, based on the results of a study published in “ Environmental Research”.
The team concluded that the pandemic had a mental health impact on Portuguese nurses, resulting in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.

The survey answered by 829 nurses, mostly women, showed that these symptoms were consistently associated with the fear of infecting others and being infected by SARS-CoV-2. This was actually the main risk factor identified.

The study reveals that, during the first wave of the pandemic, there was “a positive trend” towards a decrease in these symptoms. This trend seems to reflect “a phenomenon of psychological adaptation” of nurses similar to what has been observed in other epidemics.

“Portuguese nurses have adapted to the ‘new normal’ imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Francisco Sampaio, a CINTESIS researcher, and the study’s first author.

The specialist in Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing warns, however, that “the experience of high levels of anxiety, in the initial phase of the pandemic, may be the trigger for the onset of mental illness in people who previously were already more vulnerable”.

Promoting mental health protects nurses

In another study signed also by CINTESIS researchers, it was found that the levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress were significantly lower among nurses who always or more regularly used a set of strategies to promote mental health.

Among the strategies are physical activity, relaxing activities, recreational activities (reading, listening to music, watching television), healthy eating habits, adequate water intake, breaks between work shifts, maintaining social contacts at a distance, and verbalizing feelings and emotions.

The researchers consider that these data should have immediate implications for health policies, in order to prepare health services for future COVID-19 waves.

“It is essential that governments and health managers systematically identify professional groups, including nurses, with a higher risk of depression, anxiety and/or stress, in order to provide early intervention”, he urges.

The team considers that “it is crucial to provide adequate emotional support to nurses, which should include normalizing emotions, clear communication, ensuring that basic needs are met, the possibility of sufficient breaks in number, frequency, and duration, between work shifts and throughout shifts, as well as the provision of psychological support”.

In addition, “strategies to promote mental health, namely through the creation of spaces in health institutions for the practice of physical activity, relaxation and recreational activities,” should be adopted. Equally essential is the hiring of mental health professionals.

These studies had the participation of the CINTESIS researchers Carlos Sequeira, Laetitia Teixeira, Tânia Correia and Lara Pinho.