From Anxiety to Hardiness: The Role of Self-Efficacy in Spanish CCU Nurses in the COVID-19 Pandemic
<i>Background and Objectives</i>: Evidence shows that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses suffered from emotional symptoms, yet in spite of this, few studies within “positive psychology” have analyzed the emergence/promotion of positive traits, such as hardiness. In this context, th...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Medicina |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/60/2/215 |
| Summary: | <i>Background and Objectives</i>: Evidence shows that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses suffered from emotional symptoms, yet in spite of this, few studies within “positive psychology” have analyzed the emergence/promotion of positive traits, such as hardiness. In this context, the present study aimed to test a model regarding the mediating role of self-efficacy between anxiety experienced at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and hardiness assessed six months later among nurses in critical care units (CCU) in Spain. <i>Materials and Methods</i>: An observational, descriptive, prospective longitudinal study with two data collection periods: (1) from the 1 to the 21 June 2020 (final phase of the state of alarm declared in Spain on 14 March) in which socio-demographic and occupational variables, anxiety (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, DASS-21), self-efficacy (General Self-Efficacy Scale, GSES) and basal resilience (Resilience Scale-14, RS-14) were assessed, and (2) a follow-up 6 months later (January–March 2021) in which hardiness (Occupational Hardiness Questionnaire, OHQ) was evaluated. To analyze the data, multivariate regressions were performed using the PROCESS macro (simple mediation, model 4). <i>Results</i>: A total of 131 Spanish nurses from CCUs, with a mean age of 40.54 years (88.5% women) participated in the study. Moderate and severe levels of anxiety were observed in 19.1% of the sample. Significant and positive correlations were observed between self-efficacy, hardiness and resilience (all <i>p</i> < 0.001). Significant negative correlations were observed between anxiety and self-efficacy (<i>p</i> < 0.001), hardiness (<i>p</i> = 0.027) and resilience (<i>p</i> = 0.005). The indirect effect of anxiety on hardiness through self-efficacy was significant (Effect (SE) = −0.275 (0.100); LLCI = −0.487, ULCI = −0.097), contributing to 28% of the variance, including resilience (<i>p</i> = 0.015), age (<i>p</i> = 0.784), gender (<i>p</i> = 0.294) and years of experience (<i>p</i> = 0.652) as covariates. A total mediation was observed (non-significant anxiety-hardiness direct effect; Effect (SE) = −0.053 (0.215), <i>t</i> = 0.248, <i>p</i> = 0.804, LLCI = −0.372, ULCI = 0.479). <i>Conclusions</i>: The results suggest that in Spanish CCU nurses, anxiety experienced at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic may contribute to the development of hardiness through positive resources such as self-efficacy. |
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| ISSN: | 1010-660X 1648-9144 |