Factors influencing nurses’ behavioral intention toward caring for COVID-19 patients on mechanical ventilation: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objectives To investigate nurses’ behavioral intention toward caring for COVID-19 patients on mechanical ventilation, as well as the factors affecting their intention. Background COVID-19 patients undergoing mechanical ventilation have many care needs and pose more challenges for nurses, which might adversely affect nurses’ intention toward caring behavior. Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted by using simple random sampling to recruit 598 nurses from five tertiary hospitals in Sichuan Province, China. The participants responded to an online questionnaire that included questions on demographic characteristics; the Attitude, Subjective Norms, and Behavioral Intention of Nurses toward Mechanically Ventilated Patients (ASIMP) questionnaire; the Nursing Professional Identity Scale (NPIS); and the Compassion Fatigue-Short Scale (CF-Short Scale). ANOVA, Spearman correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression were performed to analyze the data. Results The mean total behavioral intention score was 179.46 (± 14.83) out of a total score of 189.00, which represented a high level of intention toward caring for patients on mechanical ventilation. Multiple linear regression revealed that subjective norms (β = 0.390, P<0.001), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.149, P<0.001), professional identity (β = 0.101, P = 0.009), and compassion fatigue (β = 0.088 P = 0.024) were significant predictors of nurses’ behavioral intention. Conclusions Most nurses have a positive behavioral intention to care for COVID-19 patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. The findings in this study provide some insight for developing effective and tailored strategies to promote nurses’ behavioral intention toward caring for ventilated patients under the pandemic situation.

Using the theory of planned behaviour to explain junior nurses' and final‐year student nurses' intention to care for COVID‐19 patients in China: A multisite cross‐sectional study

“…The identified barriers to providing frontline care included safety concerns, family–work conflict, inadequate organisational support and social stigma (Ke et al, 2021 ; Luo et al, 2021 ; Wu et al, 2020 ). Conversely, a strong professional identity (Cheng et al, 2021 ), positive psychological capital (Jeong & Kim, 2022 ) and job satisfaction (Sharif Nia et al, 2021 ) served as enablers of nurses' work motivation. Moreover, prior qualitative research demonstrated that nurses' perceptions of ethical challenges in caring for COVID‐19 patients adversely affected their willingness to engage in frontline activities (Alloubani et al, 2021 ; Rezaee et al, 2020 ).…”

“…According to Ajzen ( 2011 ), the TPB is most appropriate for predicting behaviours that are beyond one's volitional control, as is the case of caring for patients with emerging infectious diseases. Indeed, previous studies have used this model to explain up to 55% of variance in nurses' and student nurses' intention to provide care in the contexts of COVID‐19 (Cheng et al, 2021 ; Minuye et al, 2021 ; Tran et al, 2021 ), SARS (Ko et al, 2004 ), H1N1 (Jeong et al, 2015 ) and emerging infectious diseases (Lee & Kang, 2020 ).…”

“…Prior TPB‐based studies on nurses' and student nurses' intention to care for COVID‐19 patients were all conducted during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic (Cheng et al, 2021 ; Minuye et al, 2021 ; Tran et al, 2021 ). These research findings may not be transferable to later pandemic stages, particularly outbreaks involving the highly contagious and virulent Delta variant (Twohig et al, 2022 ).…”

Behavioral Intentions and Factors Influencing Nurses' Care of COVID-19 Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The results of our survey showed that 69.12% of nurses were willing to care for patients with COVID-19 and 75.58% had a positive attitude. This may be related to the professional responsibilities and ethical cognition of nurses ( 21 ). Both the multiple regression analysis and structural equation model results indicated that attitude had the greatest influence on behavioral intentions, indicating that the more positive the behavioral attitude, the stronger the behavioral intentions.…”

Factors influencing nurses' intent to provide care involved in coronavirus disease 2019: Theory of planned behaviour perspectives

“…In a Chinese study conducted in February 2020, 83.4% of nurses were willing to provide patient care in the Wuhan region (Gan et al, 2020 ). From November to December of the same year, 94.7% of nurses were willing to provide care for severely ill COVID‐19 patients on mechanical ventilation (Cheng et al, 2021 ). In Korea, a study conducted in September 2020 reported a rate of 55.4% for intent to provide COVID‐19 care (Kyung & Shin, 2021 ).…”