Can Nurses Use Their Knowledge and Self-Efficaciousness to Transform the Pain Induced by the Coronavirus Pandemic? Coronavirus Induced Pain and Self-Efficaciousness of Nurses

This study was conducted in order to determine the effect of nurses' knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic and their self-efficaciousness in emergency situations regarding the power of transforming pain. The data of the cross-sectional research was collected online via the questionnaire which was created by the researchers that measured nurses’ socio-demographic qualities and their knowledge levels regarding the risk protocol applied towards the health personnel who contacts patients which are under suspicion of being infected by coronavirus and regarding the home care protocol applied towards individuals who are already infected by the virus. The Emergency Self-Efficaciousness Scale and the Transformative Power of Pain Scale were also used in order to collect research data. The relevant questionnaires were sent to nurses who were actively working in Turkey between the dates of 04.20.2020 and 05.20.2020, and consequently the response of 390 nurses were received. The data was evaluated with the SPSS 21.0 package program. While 62.8% of the nurses thought that the policies created against the pandemic were partially sufficient, 55.4% thought that they could not express themselves adequately during the pandemic process and 50.3% of them stated that they could find the strength in themselves to cope with the pandemic process. While 52.1% of the nurses defined “getting infected by the coronavirus” as a work accident, 47.9% of them stated that it was an occupational disease, whereas 47.7% of the nurses stated that patients with or without mild symptoms could receive care at home by their family members, 92.8% of them stated that all personal protective equipment should be given to caregivers, and 43.3% of the nurses stated that the number of caregivers should be limited. A statistically significant relationship was found between the Competence and Interest sub-dimensions of the Emergency Self - Efficaciousness Scale and of the Transformative Power of Pain Scale which were filled out by the nurses who participated in the study. It was seen that nurses who were knowledgeable, competent, willing, and interested in the fight against COVID-19 had the power to positively transform their pain during this difficult pandemic process.