Effect of Psychological Support Intervention on Psychological Distress of Frontline Nurses during COVID19

Background: Psychosocial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic may be particularly serious for nurses because of a higher level of exposure. Especially frontline nurses that are particularly at risk. Aim :The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of psychological support intervention on psychological distress of frontline nurses exposed to COVID19.Subjects and Method: Design: The study followed a quazi experimental design. Setting: The research was conducted at Baltim isolation hospital and Qoutor general hospital which are affiliated to the Ministry of Health-Egypt. Subjects: This study's target population was made up of 50 nurses according to the inclusion criteria Tools: The study's data was gathered using two tools:"Nurse's needs and interests in dealing with COVID 19 questionnaire” and"Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale". Results: The most of the nurses have high work pressure and don’t have adequate personal protective measures, the majority of frontline nurses had sever anxiety when dealing with COVID19 patients. Also, the majority of them had moderate depression. All of frontline nurses had mild and moderate stress. The results show that there is high significant difference among studied nurse's levels of depression, anxiety and stress before and after the implementation of psychological support intervention. Conclusions: Nurses have severe psychological distress in the form of depression, anxiety and stress regarding caring of COVID19 patients, this psychological distress decreased after implementation of psychological support. Recommendation: Provide nurses with updating knowledge about the disease dimensions, vaccination and protective measures, Improve mental health, providing sufficient social support for nurses