Social representations of COVID-19 by the nursing team of an intensive care unit

COVID-19 was a new psychosocial phenomenon that affected the work context of healthcare professionals, particularly intensive care nursing teams, impacting their ways of being and relating.

The aim of this study was to analyze the structure and process of the production of social representations of nursing professionals who worked in intensive care settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Qualitative research, based on the theory of social representations. The first stage was carried out from March to June 2023 with 103 nursing professionals who provided direct care to critically ill patients with COVID-19, using the Free Word Association Technique with the inductive term COVID-19. The data underwent prototypical and simility analysis using IRaMuTeQ^® software. In the second stage, held in April 2024, 27 nursing professionals took part in the Photolanguage technique, in which they had to choose from 10 pre-selected photos, three photos representative of their work in intensive care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The justifications for the choices were submitted to thematic content analysis using an inductive model.

The representations were produced from the negative affects of nursing professionals, especially the fear of death, which was objectified in the image of the critical patient on artificial ventilation in the prone position. The fear of the disease was anchored in the idea of contracting something mysterious, due to lack of information about the disease. There was a favorable attitude toward the use of personal protective equipment, especially respiratory masks, which was the image that objectified the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in the face of negative feelings, the nursing team acted in favor of the recovery of the critical patient.

The emotional suffering that made up the socio-symbolic meanings points to the need for technologies that maximize the performance of these professionals in pandemic scenarios.

Not applicable.