Purpose: This descriptive research study aimed to identify the levels of depression, fatigue, and role overload in nurses caring for COVID-19 patients and determine the effects of fatigue and role overload on depression.
Method: From September 8, 2020 to September 17, 2020, a total of 142 nurses caring for COVID-19 patients at four medical institutions completed a questionnaire survey. Collected data was analysed by descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis using the IBM SPSS statistics 25.0 version program.
Result: As a result of the study, depression had an average rating of 14.51±9.54 points from 60 points and fatigue in participants was shown to have an average rating of 3.19±0.64 points on a 5-point scale. The role overload of participants averaged 3.03±0.64 points on a 5-point scale. The factors influencing depression among nurses caring for COVID-19 patients were health status (healthy, moderate) and fatigue.
Conclusion: Fatigue is a factor that contributes to depression in nurses who care for COVID-19 patients. To reduce fatigue, medical institutions should have massage chairs and foot massagers in the COVID-19 ward so that they can be easily used and provide special leave for nurses. In addition, the government should prepare laws and systems to ensure an adequate quantity of nursing staff to care for patients with new infectious diseases. University hospital nurses, who are mainly responsible for severe COVID-19 patients, have higher levels of depression than nurses at medical centers. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the levels of depression in university hospital nurses and develop and apply effective psychological support programs for those with high levels of depression; this initiative should be actively supported by the government.