Exploring the Experiences of Nurses Who Worked During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Arts-Based Inquiry

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted nurses and other healthcare professionals, underscoring a need to capture and share their experiences, especially amid persistent negative perceptions of nursing. This research aimed to understand the experiences of those who worked during the pandemic, translate them into audio artworks, and understand how their resulting exhibition was experienced. Utilizing arts-based inquiry, nurses (n = 4) and other healthcare specialists (n = 4) were involved in an arts-based workshop fostering a deep exploration of their experiences, and revealing themes such as uncertainty, the complexities of navigating professional identity within widespread "hero narratives", human connection and the powerful sense of catharsis and community found in sharing their experiences. Inspired by these insights, an artist created the audio artwork "Boats on an ocean". Six other audio artworks were subsequently created in the same way. A survey (n = 18) and in two hybrid workshops (n = 6) were then undertaken to understand how audiences experienced the exhibited artwork. Audiences consistently described the exhibition as "profoundly moving". This research marks the first instance of using arts-based methods to both qualitatively capture and artistically disseminate healthcare professionals' COVID-19 experiences. It serves as a historic record, preserving accounts for future generations.