Coping with the Burden of Care through Effective Management of Stress: A Study among Nurses in Selected COVID-19 Isolation Hospitals in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The burden of providing care to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic escalated stress among nurses, which affected their mental health, and called for effective coping. The goal of this study was to correlate the burden of caregiving with the management of stress by nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates. We conducted this cross-sectional correlational study among the nurses in two hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. A non-probability voluntary sample (n = 64) was taken of nurses working in the intensive care unit (n = 41) and isolation wards (n = 24). The respondents completed two questionnaires via Google Forms, namely, the Professional Care Team Burden Scale and the 15-item Stress Management Inventory. The findings indicate that the nurses reported moderate (37.5%) to low (62.5%) levels of the burden associated with caregiving. There was a significant inverse correlation between the burden of care and three elements of the stress management inventory, namely developing resiliency (r = −.284, p = .023), short-term coping (r = −313, p = .012), and effective delegation (r = −.395, p = .001). However, there was no correlation between the burden of care and eliminating stressor elements. The findings suggest that when nurses increased their resilience, short-term coping strategies and effective delegation they tended to experience less burden of caregiving during the COVID-19 pandemic. We therefore recommend that health policymakers focus on supporting resilience, short-term coping strategies and effective delegation in the nursing work environment to reduce the burden of caregiving.