Correlation between COVID-19-related health anxiety and coping styles among frontline nurses

The long-term epidemic of COVID-19 and its recurrence has exposed frontline nurses to mental disorders such as stress and health anxiety. High levels of health anxiety associated with COVID-19 may lead to maladaptive behaviors. There is no agreement on which coping styles are most effective against stress. Therefore, more evidence is required to find better adaptive behaviors. The present study was conducted to investigate the correlation between the level of health anxiety and the type of coping strategies used by frontline nurses fighting COVID-19.

This is a cross-sectional study that was performed on a convenience sample of 386 nurses who are working in the COVID department from October to December 2020, coinciding with the outbreak of the third COVID-19 peak in Iran. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire, the short version of the health anxiety questionnaire, and coping inventory for stressful situations. Data were analyzed using independent T-test, U-Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests with SPSS version 23 software.

The mean score of nurses' health anxiety was 17.61 ± 9.26 which was more than the cut-off point for health anxiety and 59.1% of nurses had COVID-19-related health anxiety. The mean score of problem coping style (26.85 ± 5.19), was higher than emotion (18.48 ± 5.63) and avoidance (19.64 ± 5.88) coping styles and nurses mostly used problem-coping strategies to deal with anxiety caused by COVID-19. There was a positive significant correlation between the scores of health anxiety and emotion coping style (r = 0.54; P < 0.001).

Based on the findings of this study, COVID-19-related health anxiety was high in front-line nurses and those with high health anxiety were more likely to use emotion-based coping strategies, which are ineffective. Therefore, considering strategies to reduce nurses' health anxiety and holding training programs on effective coping methods in epidemic conditions are recommended.