Psychosocial support guidelines for nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection in the North West Province

Abstract

Background: Literature has shown that nurses, as frontliners caring for the patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection, are psychologically affected by the consequences of the pandemic. Therefore, nurses need psychosocial support guidelines when caring for the patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. Data collected in the four public hospitals in the North West Province of South Africa suggests that there are no psychosocial support guidelines for nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection, thus justifying the need to develop the psychosocial support guidelines for nurses caring for COVID-19 patients. Aim: The aim of this study was to develop and validate guidelines for the psychosocial support of nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in the North West Province. This was achieved through five manuscripts detailed in the structure of the study. Method: A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological and contextual design was employed to achieve the aim and objectives of the study. The study was conducted in four phases, which are phase 1: Integrative literature review, phase 2: Empirical phase, phase 3: Development phase and phase 4: Validation phase. The integrative literature review was conducted and two themes emerged, namely: psychological support and social support and subsequently, the article was published at Gender and Behaviour Journal. The empirical phase had two steps. Two themes emerged from the first step, namely: Nurses' knowledge of COVID-19 and Nurses' experiences of caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection and the manuscript was published at The Open Public Health Journal. Two themes also arose from the second step of the empirical phase, namely: nurses' challenges when caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection and psychosocial support needed by nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and the manuscript was published at Gender and Behaviour Journal. Phase 3 had 2 steps. Step 1 focused on the development of the conceptual framework and it was facilitated by answering the six crucial questions according to Dickoff et al. (1968) and the manuscript was published at The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health for publication. The psychosocial support guidelines of nurses caring for COVID- 19 patients were developed and validated and the manuscript was submitted to the Qualitative Research Journal for publication. Section three provides the conclusions, limitations and recommendations of the study. Four virtual focus group discussions, n=26, were conducted with nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 until data saturation. Fifteen experts participated in the validation of the developed guidelines. Trustworthiness was ensured through credibility, dependability, transferability, confirmability and authenticity. The ethical considerations namely: beneficence, respect for human dignity and justice were considered throughout the study. Results: The study showed that nurses caring for COVID-19 patients are physically, psychologically and socially affected by the pandemic. The results also indicated that it was difficult for nurses to care for COVID-19 patients because it is a new disease and they needed support from their managers. There is no specific treatment for COVID-19 and many patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 died. A shortage of human and medical resources to care for COVID-19 patients was reported by nurses and they are at a risk of being infected. Conclusion: The study findings from the integrative literature review and the empirical phase were used to develop a conceptual framework for the psychosocial support of nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection in North West Province. The framework of Dickoff et al. (1968) was used to develop the conceptual framework which was used to guide the development of the psychosocial support guidelines. Donabedian's (1966) model was used to develop the proposed guidelines. An e-Delphi technique was used to validate the developed guidelines. A Likert scale was used by experts to rate the guidelines, as well as open ended comments. Three rounds of group of experts were conducted until consensus was reached. The psychosocial support guidelines were developed to support nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection in North West Province of South Africa.