Stress and quality of life of intensive care nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Self‐efficacy and resilience as resources

Peñacoba, Cecilia; Catala, Patricia; Velasco, Lilian; Carmona‐Monge, Francisco Javier; Garcia‐Hedrera, Fernando J.; Gil‐Almagro, Fernanda

BACKGROUND: Health care workers employed in the COVID‐19 emergency are at a high risk of stress. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore the mediating roles of self‐efficacy and resilience between stress and both physical and mental quality‐of‐life components in intensive care nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic. DESIGN: Cross‐sectional survey design. METHODS: The stress subscale (depression, anxiety, and stress scale in Spanish Scale, DASS‐21), the summary components (physical and mental) of health‐related quality of life (SF‐36), the general self‐efficacy scale (GSES), and the resilience scale (RS‐14) were administered in 308 intensive care nurses. Serial multiple mediator models were used. RESULTS: There was a significant indirect effect of levels of perceived stress on both physical and mental health components through self‐efficacy and resilience. Specifically, greater perception of self‐efficacy was associated with a lower perception of stress and greater resilience, while higher resilience was associated with greater physical and mental health (B = −0.03; SE = 0.02; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [−0.07, −0.01]; B = −0.03, SE = 0.01, 95% CI = [−0.07, −0.01], respectively). It was observed that self‐efficacy alone also mediates the relationship of the perception of stress on the components of physical and mental health (B = −0.07; SE = 0.05; 95% CI = [−0.18, −0.03]; B = −0.09; SE = 0.04; 95% CI = [−0.17, −0.24], respectively). However, resilience alone was not a significant mediator of these associations. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that stress is linked to the physical and mental health components related to quality of life through self‐efficacy and resilience. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: These psychological resources would allow the nursing staff to maintain a good quality of life despite high levels of stress. These findings have implications for future research in terms of both model testing and clinical application.