factors associated with nurses’ fears in caring for patients with covid-19

Background: nurses face a high risk of experiencing excessive fear while caring for patients with covid-19. however, to our knowledge, no study has yet explored the factors associated with nurses’ fears when caring for patients with covid-19.aim: the present study aimed to analyze the factors associated with nurses’ fears when caring for covid-19 patients in indonesia.method: this cross-sectional study was conducted on 591 nurses caring for covid-19 patients. the nurses were recruited from 26 provinces in indonesia using a purposive sampling method in april 2020. the instruments consisted of a sociodemographic characteristics form and a valid instrument to explore nurses’ fears. data were analyzed using spss software (version 23).results: in total, 86.8% of the nurses felt fear when caring for covid-19 patients. moreover, despite using personal protective equipment, 83.8% of participants answered that they feared getting infected with the virus while caring for patients, and 87.5% of the participants feared that their families might become infected with the virus. among the nurses who cared for covid-19 patients, 91.2% feared they might pass the disease on to their families at home. age, marital status, infection prevention control training, and nurses’ education level were significantly related to nurses’ fears (p<0.05, ci 95%).implications for practice: the excessive fear in nurses who care for covid-19 patients is a major issue for nursing managers. provision of viral transmission prevention and control programs, self-esteem improvement activities, and having pandemic course subjects in the nursing education curricula can help nurses become more aware and ready to face a pandemic.