Post Traumatic Growth in Palliative Care Nurses during the COVID-19 Era
Disciplines
Palliative Nursing | Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Nurses are considered the backbone of the healthcare team as they work to advocate for patient’s rights to care. Recently palliative care nurses have been exiting the profession at high rates since COVID-19 because of high stress levels which affects their Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) leading to high burnout rates. Implementing a wellness intervention to promote PTG scores can enhance growth levels, reduce stress, increase retention rates, and promote nurses’ well-being (Salimi, Pakpour, Rahmani, Wilson, & Feizollahzadeh,2020). Aim: This study aims to provide baseline measures for the posttraumatic growth levels among palliative care nurses to administer a blog intervention at a later stage to analyze its effect on nurses' posttraumatic growth. Method: The study used an electronic survey in the pretest phase for a diverse group of 226 registered nurses. The survey assessed five factors of PTG (i.e., relating to others, new possibilities, personal strength, spiritual change, and appreciation of life). Results: The PTG levels were 12.9 for factor 1 (0-35), 15.9 for factor 2 (0-25), 20 for factor 3 (0-20), 6.4 for factor 4 (0-10), and 10.1 for factor 5 (0-15). PTG factor 3 “personal strength” recorded the highest score indicating that nurses felt stronger in palliative care units. PTG Factor 1 “relation to others” had the lowest score. A post-survey given to the same group of registered nurses awaits results to see if their responses differed or remained the same following the implementation of the online blog writing intervention. Recommendations: Based on our findings, there is a need to implement self-care measures for palliative care nurses to help improve their PTG levels specifically in appreciation of life, relation to others, and new possibilities. Further recommendations will be based on post-test results to determine if the self-care intervention was effective to be applied to a larger nurse population.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
WCHHS - Nursing
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Kawther Hamash
Post Traumatic Growth in Palliative Care Nurses during the COVID-19 Era
Nurses are considered the backbone of the healthcare team as they work to advocate for patient’s rights to care. Recently palliative care nurses have been exiting the profession at high rates since COVID-19 because of high stress levels which affects their Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) leading to high burnout rates. Implementing a wellness intervention to promote PTG scores can enhance growth levels, reduce stress, increase retention rates, and promote nurses’ well-being (Salimi, Pakpour, Rahmani, Wilson, & Feizollahzadeh,2020). Aim: This study aims to provide baseline measures for the posttraumatic growth levels among palliative care nurses to administer a blog intervention at a later stage to analyze its effect on nurses' posttraumatic growth. Method: The study used an electronic survey in the pretest phase for a diverse group of 226 registered nurses. The survey assessed five factors of PTG (i.e., relating to others, new possibilities, personal strength, spiritual change, and appreciation of life). Results: The PTG levels were 12.9 for factor 1 (0-35), 15.9 for factor 2 (0-25), 20 for factor 3 (0-20), 6.4 for factor 4 (0-10), and 10.1 for factor 5 (0-15). PTG factor 3 “personal strength” recorded the highest score indicating that nurses felt stronger in palliative care units. PTG Factor 1 “relation to others” had the lowest score. A post-survey given to the same group of registered nurses awaits results to see if their responses differed or remained the same following the implementation of the online blog writing intervention. Recommendations: Based on our findings, there is a need to implement self-care measures for palliative care nurses to help improve their PTG levels specifically in appreciation of life, relation to others, and new possibilities. Further recommendations will be based on post-test results to determine if the self-care intervention was effective to be applied to a larger nurse population.