Research Information System
Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences, vol.5, no.1, pp.22-28, 2022 (Scopus)
Objective: This study was conducted to examine the fears of catching coronavirus and perceived stress levels of midwifery students in clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted between 20 April and 30 June 2021. The sample consisted of 459 midwifery students who went into clinical practice during the pandemic period. Research data were obtained through online questionnaires using the “Survey Form”, “Coronavirus Fear Scale” and “Per-ceived Stress Scale”. Results: It was determined that the total mean score of the Fear of Coronavirus Scale of the students participating in the study was 20.02 ± 6.87 and the total mean score of the Perceived Stress Scale was 28.55 ± 9.73. It was determined that there was a significant relationship between the total score of the Coronavirus Fear Scale and the university where he studied, the clinic where he went to internship, the status of caring for the patient with COVID-19 and the density of the department (p <.05). It was determined that there was a significant relationship between the total score of the Perceived Stress Scale and the use of clinical and medical masks in practice (p <.05). A strong positive correlation was found between the Students' Fear of Coronavirus Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale (r =.209, p =.000). Conclusion: It was determined that during the pandemic period, the fears of the coronavirus were moderate, the perceived stress levels of the students were moderate, and the stress levels increased as their fears about the coronavirus increased.Objective: Important health groups such as midwives are among the working groups with high levels of anxiety and burnout, working under conditions such as heavy workload, especially during epidemic processes. In particular, young midwives/nurses with no experience caring for critically ill patients face a greater psychological crisis. If these psychological problems are not resolved effectively, they can have a negative impact on the quality and safety of the medical care system. At the end of the first wave of the pandemic, there are very few studies on midwifery students who actively do internships in clinics in order to complete the criteria for graduation and gain clinical skills. This study was conducted to examine the fear of coronavirus and perceived stress levels of midwifery students in clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The research was carried out with midwife students across Turkey on an online platform. At the date of data collection, 459 participants who met the sample selection criteria and volunteered to participate in the research were reached. The data were obtained by snowball sampling method on the online platform. “Survey Form”, “Coronavirus Fear Scale” and “Perceived Stress Scale” were used to collect the data of the study. Within the scope of the study, ethical approval from an ethics committee (Date: 26/11/2020 Ethics Committee No: 163) and permission to use were obtained from the responsible authors of the scale. In the data collection process with online questionnaires, first, necessary information about the study was given on the first page, and if they agreed to participate in the study, they were asked to mark the statement “I approve to participate in the study”. It was stated to the students that participation in the study was on a voluntary basis. The student who completed the form online was deemed to have accepted to participate in the research. It has been stated that no fees will be charged and/or no fees will be paid from the students for research purposes. The Coro-navirus Fear Scale (CVS) was found to have a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.891 in this study. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS); In this study, the Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient was found to be 0.916. “Survey Form”, “Coronavirus Fear Scale” and “Perceived Stress Scale” were used to collect the data of the study. Results: It was determined that 45.8% of the participants were 4th grade students, 75.2% of them lived with their families, 85.8% of them willingly preferred the midwifery department, and 53.2% of them studied at a foundation university. 31.4% of the clinics where students do their internship in practice are delivery rooms, 77.1% do not care for patients with COVID-19, 86.7% consider every patient as risky, 57.7% are clinics where they work in practice. It was determined that it was medium density, 92.4% of them used medical masks and 70.8% of them used surgical masks. It was determined that there was a significant relationship between the total score of the students in CVS and the university they attended, the clinic where they went for internship, the status of caring for the COVID-19 patient and the intensity of the department they worked in (respectively p =.035, p =.007, p =.008, p =.009). It was determined that there was a significant relationship between the total score of the Perceived Stress Scale and the use of clinical and medical masks in practice (p =.017, p =.000, respectively). The mean age of the students was 21.80 ± 2.92 (18.00-32.00), the mean age of the students was 20.02 ± 6.87 (7.00-35.00) and the total mean score of PSS was 28.55 ± It was found to be 9.73 (.00-56.00). A positive correlation was determined between the age of the students and CSV (r =.116, p =.013). On the other hand, a strong positive correlation was found between the students’ CVS and PSS (r =.209, p =.000). Conclusion: It was determined that during the pandemic period, the fears of the coronavirus were moderate, the perceived stress levels of the students were moderate, and the stress levels increased as their fears about the coronavirus increased. The psychological impact of epidemics on individuals and society is inevitable, and these psychological consequences may continue for a long time after the epidemic ends. Although the results of this study present the relationship between the fear of coronavirus and perceived stress status of midwifery students in the COVID-19 pandemic environment, conducting the study on a larger sample to include all midwifery students will provide more generalizable findings.