Introduction

A preliminary assessment of the direct association between coronavirus anxiety and burnout syndrome, depressive symptoms and insomnia among nurses in the context of selected work-related factors.

Material and methods

This is a cross-sectional study. Fifty professionally active nurses were recruited from various psychiatric facilities and asked to fill out a set of questionnaires: the authors’ survey on sociodemographic data, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), the Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey (MBI-GS), the revised version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-R), and the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Linear regression models were constructed to predict the AIS, CESD-R and MBI-GS dimensions scores, with the CAS score as a predictor. The models were adjusted for sex, marital status, place of residence, length of service and working hours per week.

Results

A rise in the CAS score was associated with rises in the CESD-R, MBI Exhaustion and MBI Cynicism scores. The effects were of similar size regardless of whether models were adjusted or unadjusted. Unadjusted and adjusted models predicting AIS total scores and MBI-Efficacy score were not fit to empirical data. In these models, the CAS score was not found to be significantly associated with the AIS and MBI-Efficacy scores.

Conclusions

The severity of coronavirus anxiety contributed to the severity of depressive symptoms, cynicism and exhaustion among nurses. The ability to cope effectively with fear of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 may be crucial in preventing and mitigating other mental health sequelae.