Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Public Health

Background:

• COVID-19 pandemic necessitated barrier actions and personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Behavioral adaptations, including reduced self-touching, became crucial.
• Understanding the mind-body experience of these changes is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the mind-body experience of nurses adapting to reduced self-touching during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To investigate the impact of facial PPE on nurses' self-perception and behavior.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study involving nine volunteer nurses.
• Semistructured interviews analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Main Results:

• Facial PPE offers reassurance but is challenging to wear.
• Nurses employed strategies like avoidance and keeping hands busy to control self-touching.
• Body self-representations and the sense of humanness were altered, leading to feelings of bodily abandonment and soiledness.

Conclusions:

• Refraining from self-touching and wearing facial PPE impose a significant cognitive load.
• Sensorimotor modifications during pandemics have profound mind-body repercussions.
• Supporting healthcare professionals in assessing these repercussions is essential.