Background: Infectious disease outbreaks have a psychological effect on the general population, and especially on health workers. Nurses who care for COVID-19 patients feel negative emotions, fear, and anxiety due to fatigue, discomfort, and helplessness due to high-intensity work. Objective: The study aims to evaluate the effect of EFT in the prevention of stress, anxiety, and burnout of nurses who have an important position in the fight against COVID-19. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: COVID-19 department of a university hospital in Istanbul Province, Turkey. Participants: The sample of the study consisted of nurses working on 80 COVID-19 cases. Methods: The investigators will recruit nurses who care for the patient infected with COVID-19 randomly allocated them to the intervention (n = 40) and control (n = 40) groups. EFT will apply to the experimental group with online access. Data will collect using the Introductory Characteristics Form, the Subjective Discomfort Unit Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Burnout Scale.
With the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, healthcare workers have assumed important
responsibilities in the control, prevention, care, and treatment of its spread. In this
period, they provided the necessary health practices for suspicious or confirmed COVID-19
patients in the front lines and under harsh conditions, which are generally long and tiring.
It is clear that infectious disease outbreaks have a psychological effect on the general
population, and especially on health workers. The social distance required to prevent
outbreaks is a key factor in disease management while causing social and psychological
effects.
2.1. Design A randomized controlled experimental research design. The study complied with the
guidelines of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist.
2.2. Participants This study will conduct with nurses working in a university hospital
located in Istanbul between May 2020 and June 2020, working in the care of COVID-19 patients.
2.5. Measures The data will be collected with the Introductory Characteristics Form, the
positive units of distress scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Burnout
Inventory. The investigators created our data collection forms using Survey Monkey, which
provides electronic self-access and prevents data from multiple entries from the same person,
making it easier to collect and track data. Confidentiality will be guaranteed by completely
disabling electronic and IP address records to obtain anonymous replies.
Behavioral: Emotional Freedom Technique
EFT application was started by showing the meridian points to the participants through the picture. It was advised that these points should be clicked with the index finger and middle finger without hurting, but with certain strokes, and it was ensured that they understood the regions by showing and applying them. Then, the following basic steps, which should be followed by the EFT session (four in total lasting 20 minutes), were carried out in succession with the researcher.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Not taking any courses about coping with anxiety and stress,
- Volunteering to participate in the study.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Having any psychiatric diagnoses
Medeniyet University
Istanbul, Turkey
Berna Dinçer, Study Chair
Istanbul Medeniyet University