Psychosocial support for nurses caring for patients diagnosed with covid-19 disease: An integrated literature review

Abstract

Caring for COVID-19 patients can be very stressful. Nurses continue to be at the frontline, caring for COVID-19 patients despite the spread  of the infectious and deadly disease. Nurses caring for these patients are exposed to psychological and social problems. The  purpose of this study was to review the current literature by exploring and describing the articles published on psychosocial support for  nurses caring for COVID-19 patients. An integrative literature review (ILR) method was used to explore published evidence on a certain  phenomenon thereby, identifying potential research gaps to be addressed in future studies. Thesix steps of ILR used to achieve the  purpose of this study were: formulation of the purpose and/or review questions(s); systematic search and selection of appropriate  literature; quality appraisal; analysis and synthesis; discussion and conclusion; and dissemination of findings. An appraisal was done  using the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Appraisal (JHNEBP) tool. Google Scholar, Science Direct, EBSCOhost, Medline, Emerald and Scopus were used to identity and select articles considered in the study. Articles used in this ILR were published from  2019-2022. The findings yieldedtwo themes: psychological and social support. The findings also revealed that the increase in COVID-19  cases puts pressure on global health care systems, leading to psychological and social pressure on nurses caring for COVID-19 patients.  Nurses caring for COVID-19 patients are affected, both psychologically and socially thus, needing psychosocial support. Supporting  nurses psychologically and socially is critical to enable them provide quality care for COVID-19 patients.