Second Place in Poster Category – Nursing: Injury and Disease
STUDENT: Logan DeSanto
ADVISOR: Dr. Michael M. Evans
ABSTRACT:
Background: Nurses have been exposed to unique and challenging experiences while working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
During this time, nurses were forced to care for critically ill patients while working short-staffed in stressful environments while also having to remain isolated from their loved ones due to fear of spreading the disease.
Purpose: To explore the experiences of front-line nursing staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived efficacy of storytelling with front-line nurses as both a qualitative methodology and a therapeutic group process for nursing staff.
Methods: A qualitative design using story circles was used to gather data from participants (n=14). Data was de-identified, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed for codes and themes. Pre- and post-surveys were sent to participants to gather demographic data and participants’ perceptions of utilizing story circles as a therapeutic intervention.
Results: Two themes were identified from the data analysis – navigating uncharted waters and persisting through the COVID-19 storm. Each theme had multiple sub-themes that will be expanded on during the presentation. Post-story circle survey data showed that many participants found the story circle to be beneficial in sharing their story, helpful in validating their feelings for caring for COVID-19 patients and helpful to their mental well-being.
Conclusions & Implications: Nurses have proven to be resilient and innovative; but, not without changes in how they view the healthcare system, the nursing profession, and their communities. The data suggest that story circles are an effective methodology to help nurses not only share their stories but also works as a therapeutic to the participants. Based on the results of this study, future studies should examine interventions that can help nurses when navigating uncharted waters, the effectiveness of story circles in other populations to examine the feasibility as a therapeutic process, and replication of this study with a larger sample size using a longitudinal design.