Analysis of nursing students' obsessive and coping behaviors during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Bahçecioğlu Turan, Gülcan; Köse, Semra; Aksoy, Meyreme

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the obsessive behaviors and coping behaviors of nursing students during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. DESIGN AND METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted between October 4 and October 17, 2020. FINDINGS: In this study, it was found that nursing students had a mean total COVID‐19 Obsessive Compulsive Scale score of 3.88 ± 3.02 and a mean total Ways of Coping Inventory (WCI) score of 47.05 ± 11.68. When the subscales of the WCI were examined, mean scores were found to be 13.64 ± 4.85 for the self‐confident approach, 8.91 ± 3.35 for the optimistic approach, 7.25 ± 2.24 for the seeking social support approach, 10.97 ± 4.43 for the helpless approach, and 6.24 ± 3.20 for the submissive approach. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Nursing students have low levels of obsession with COVID‐19 and moderate levels of coping behaviors. For this reason, it is very important to recognize the psychological symptoms of today's nursing students—the health workforce of the future—and to determine priorities for their solution.