Mental images of nurses regarding COVID-19: A metaphor study

The purpose of this study is to understand the thoughts and perceptions of nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 diagnosis about the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nursing profession, with the basic duty of caring for people, is among the professional groups most affected by COVID-19. The high rate of transmission of COVID-19, inadequate numbers of nurses for the increasing case numbers, inadequate personal protective equipment and increases in numbers of deaths negatively affected nurses, as they affected all health professionals.

This research is phenomenological research. A parallel mixed design including quantitative and qualitative research methods was used in the research. A sociodemographic data form and metaphor perception related to the COVID-19 pandemic form were used for data collection. Responses of nurses to the open-ended metaphor questions were evaluated with descriptive analysis and content analysis using the document investigation method.

The research was completed with 227 nurses. Most of the nurses were employed in COVID-19 wards (68.3%), were not diagnosed with COVID-19 (65.2%) and had not lost any relatives to COVID-19 (59.0%). It was determined that the answers given by the nurses comprised 151 metaphors collected in eight categories in total.

The results show that the metaphors mentioned by nurses involve hopelessness.

This study reflects the ideas of nurses who are working with all their might during the COVID-19 pandemic and reveals the psychological status of the nurses.