Experiences, emotional responses, and coping skills of nursing students as auxiliary health workers during the peak COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study
Judith Roca PhD
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Health Care Research Group (GRECS), Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Olga Canet-Vélez PhD
Blanquerna Faculty of Health Sciences, University Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain
Correspondence: Olga Canet, Blanquerna Faculty of Health Sciences, University Ramon Llull, 326-332 Padilla, St. 08025, Barcelona, Spain. Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorTània Cemeli PhD
Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorAna Lavedán PhD
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Health Care Research Group (GRECS), Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorOlga Masot PhD
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Health Care Research Group (GRECS), Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorTeresa Botigué PhD
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Health Care Research Group (GRECS), Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorJudith Roca PhD
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Health Care Research Group (GRECS), Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Olga Canet-Vélez PhD
Blanquerna Faculty of Health Sciences, University Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain
Correspondence: Olga Canet, Blanquerna Faculty of Health Sciences, University Ramon Llull, 326-332 Padilla, St. 08025, Barcelona, Spain. Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorTània Cemeli PhD
Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorAna Lavedán PhD
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Health Care Research Group (GRECS), Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorOlga Masot PhD
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Health Care Research Group (GRECS), Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorTeresa Botigué PhD
Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Health Care Research Group (GRECS), Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorDeclaration of conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Authorship statement: All authors meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ definition of authorship listed here: (i) substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; (ii) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (iii) final approval of the version to be published; (iv) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved (ICMJE 2019). All authors are in agreement with the manuscript.
Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis in Spain has exacerbated the shortage of nursing staff to respond to increasing healthcare demands. For this reason, nursing students were requested to collaborate voluntarily as auxiliary health staff. This emergency has led to mental health problems in health professionals, hence the relevance of coping techniques. The objectives of this study were to explore the experiences and emotional responses of final-year nursing students who volunteered to carry out healthcare relief tasks during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify the coping strategies they adopted to deal with this situation. A qualitative study was conducted in the constructivist paradigm. Purposive sampling was used, and twenty-two students participated in semi-structured interviews, which were then content-analysed. The study is reported using the COREQ checklist. Five themes emerged in the ‘Experiences and emotional response’ dimension (context, patients, emotions and feelings, risk of contagion, and personal satisfaction), and three themes emerged in the ‘Coping strategies’ dimension strategies in the work environment, in daily life and personal life. Although the students expressed negative emotions due to the highly complex context and lack of professional experience, they evaluated the experience positively in terms of learning and usefulness. Most notably, the students employed adaptive coping strategies to deal with the pandemic.
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