Estrategias de afrontamiento ante la crisis sanitaria: un estudio comparativo en enfermeros de costa y sierra ecuatoriana

Abstract

Se realizó una encuesta transversal de dos muestras separadas por conveniencia de enero a marzo de 2021 a fin de comparar la prevalencia de percepción de riesgo e identificar diferentes estrategias de afrontamiento en enfermeros de la costa y la sierra ecuatoriana. Las muestras incluyeron dos grupos de profesionales de enfermería para un total de 518. El 49,0% (n= 254) de los participantes laboraban en la sierra ecuatoriana y el 50,8% (n= 263) prestaban sus servicios en la costa ecuatoriana. Muestreados provenientes de varias clínicas, tanto en la costa como en la sierra ecuatoriana, fueron abordados aleatoriamente por el entrevistador para participar en el estudio. Se examinaron y compararon los resultados de las pruebas de las tres muestras. Los grupos se eligieron en función de la conveniencia del muestreo y la supuesta conciencia de los factores de riesgo de COVID-19. En cuanto a la percepción de riesgo, su prevalencia es significativamente mayor para las enfermeras de la costa que las de la sierra. Las enfermeras que prefieren trabajar en equipo durante la crisis sanitaria tenían probabilidades alrededor de 0,30 más bajas, lo que puede interpretarse como un factor protector. Respecto al miedo al contagio no se hallaron diferencias entre enfermeras de la costa o la sierra.

Anxiety Levels and Coping Strategies to Deal with COVID-19: A Cross-Cultural Study among the Spanish and Latin American Healthcare Populations

“…[ 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 22 , 23 , 26 , 58 , 60 ] contradict our findings, as they showed that the main sources of anxiety among health professionals were due to patient care, concern about becoming infected or infecting family members, work-related concerns, burnout, and fear of the unknown. Our results are inconsistent with [ 2 , 5 , 6 , 11 , 16 , 19 , 20 , 22 , 23 , 26 , 36 ], that reflected that the COVID-19 pandemic has generated higher levels of anxiety among health workers, regarding factors such as having been in contact with the virus or fear at work. Moreover, our results are contrary to the studies by [ 18 , 60 ], as they showed that health professionals have had to develop their profession in a precarious environment, putting both their individual and collective health at risk, considerably increasing their patients’ death anxiety; the predictor variables of this anxiety are the absence of personal protective equipment and high levels of burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization.…”

“…This seems to indicate that health professionals tried to protect their psychological health, and therefore their levels of anxiety, in the face of such an unprecedented threat in our recent history. These results support other studies that revealed that positive mental health and social, emotional, and psychological well-being have a positive effect, confer resilience, reduce the negative consequences of unpleasant experiences, promote an adaptive response to uncertain situations, and reduce the risk of suicidal ideation [ 13 , 14 , 24 , 25 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 34 , 36 , 40 , 45 , 49 , 53 , 54 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 ].…”

“…Likewise, coping strategies refer to a set of responses that a person puts into practice to resolve challenging situations and reduce the tensions generated by them [ 28 , 33 ]. Therefore, coping has been shown to be a key factor for psychological well-being and mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 17 , 21 , 25 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”

“…Moreover, the psychological impact produced by the COVID-19 pandemic can manifest itself as serious problems involving a deterioration in the health and operation of the healthcare population, resulting in anxiety, sleep disorders, stress, depression, burnout, acute stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 29 , 35 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 45 , 48 , 52 , 60 , 64 , 66 , 67 , 68 ].Various studies have shown that the presence of anxiety is associated with symptoms of stress, nervousness, fear, fatigue, viral symptoms, job disappointment, perception of discrimination, and negative actions related to COVID-19 [ 1 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 19 , 20 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 36 , 59 , 62 , 63 …”

“…In Ecuador, Refs. [ 20 , 36 , 54 ] showed that the healthcare population presented psychological distress and used positive coping strategies to continue with their work.…”