Perceived Stigma, Psychological Response, And Nurse Coping In The Covid-19 Pandemic In Indonesia

Abstract

Nurses are at the forefront of being directly involved in the care of Covid-19 patients. This can put nurses in a difficult position, especially if they had lack support from the surrounding environment. The society's negative stigma towards nurses can trigger psychological problems for them. Good coping is needed to maintain the work performance of nurses. This study aims to identify the perceived stigma, psychological response, and coping of nurses involved in caring for Covid-19 patients in Indonesia. This research was a cross-sectional study based on an electronic survey, the number of respondents was 509 nurses who came from all regions in Indonesia on 11-20 April 2020. Respondents were nurses who handled Covid-19 patients directly. The data were collected using a modified questionnaire the Berger stigma scale, DASS and Brief of Cope with a total of 27 questions. The questionnaires used have been proven valid and reliable after being tested on 30 nurses treating Covid-19 patients with a Cronbach Alpha value as follows: modified Berger Stigma Scale 0.952; modified DASS 0.928; and modified Brief of Cope 0.753. Most respondents were 26-35 years old (52.1%), female (61.5%), and worked in government-owned hospitals (48.3%). 231 respondents were stigmatized (45.4%), 274 respondents were depressed (46.2%) and 209 respondents were experienced stress (41.1%). The majority of respondents chose problem focused coping (65.8%). This study shows that some respondents feel they were stigmatized by society, but they have good coping (problem focused coping) to reduce their mental burden. Negative stigma against nurses is often difficult to avoid, support from family and colleagues was something that can ease the mental burden of nurses. Support from the government was needed to educate the public so that it does not give negative stigma to nurses and other health workers.

Culture versus Technology: Bridging the Gap to Improve COVID-19 Prevention and Care based on the COVID-19 Task Force Perspectives

“…People have different responses to COVID-19, with the participants describing both positive and negative sentiments. Negative sentiments mainly occurred in the early days of the pandemic as the psychological effects were felt by individuals, such as feelings of fear, anxiety, stress, and doubt [4], [9], [14], [15]. In addition, the infodemic created confusion in the community and lack of knowledge about COVID-19 triggered stigma [7], [9], [16].…”

“…Given that the number of cases continues to grow every day, the Indonesian government has made various systematic and comprehensive efforts to prevent the broader transmission of COVID-19. However, the government's actions are often hampered by opposing sentiments, including stigmatization in society about the COVID-19 disease [4].…”

“…The diversity of the Indonesian people poses a significant challenge for the COVID-19 Task Force, given that cultural background affects psychological response to COVID-19 [4], [6]. In addition, because COVID-19 is a new disease, it has caused an "infodemic" in the community, resulting from the use of information and communication technology [7], [8], [9].…”

Social Support to Reduce Disease-Related Stigma: Lesson Learned from Corona Virus Disease-19

“…For the health workers, COVID-19 pandemic increases the risk of mental health problems because of the high risk of being exposed and getting stigma. Social support is an important factor in overcoming psychological problems and also prevent the impact of a high workload on health workers (Janitra, Melastuti, Yusuf, Fadhilah, & Wibawa, 2021).…”

The Experience of Health Care Workers Infected by Corona Virus Diseases-19

“…Several studies have examined the condition of health workers related to their duties in dealing with COVID-19. For example, several researchers studied the psychological impact on health workers (Janitra et al, 2021;Phuc et al, 2021;Torales et al, 2020;Widjadja et al, 2020). Another study shows that health workers are against stigma (Abudi et al, 2020).…”