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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Health Workforce
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2025.1583357
Predictors of nurses' work-related mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: a paired follow-up study
Provisionally accepted- 1Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden
- 2Lund University, Lund, Skane County, Sweden
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Nurses are essential pillars of society, providing care for the sick. It is crucial for society to ensure that nurses have favorable working conditions, as they face a heightened risk of negative psychological conditions such as depression, anxiety, stress, and emotional exhaustion due to the demanding nature of their work. The strain on healthcare staff, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, has underscored these challenges. This study aimed to identify predictors of workrelated mental health issues in nurses' work environments. In 2017, a questionnaire was distributed to 9,219 Swedish nurses, with 4,962 responses received. The questionnaire was redistributed during the pandemic in 2020, and 3,107 nurses responded. However, due to missing data and some nurses previously reporting a mental health diagnosis, only 2,030 questionnaires were included in the study. Among these, 143 nurses reported experiencing work-related mental health problems. The data was analyzed by logistic regression analysis, and 6 out of the 24 statements investigated were statistically significant (p<0.05), i.e., there was a longitudinal association between nurses' work situation and their mental health problems. The six statements were "I do not feel I get enough rest/recuperation between work shifts", "The work pace in my daily work is too high", "I do not feel I have enough support from my coworkers", "I do not experience joy in my daily work", "I do not feel like my daily work is meaningful", and "I do not get enough opportunities at work to utilize my skills and knowledge". Conclusions: This study revealed that work pace, recovery, support from colleagues, joy, meaningfulness, and development opportunities at work are particularly important for nurses' mental health. Actions in those areas are needed for nurses to have a sustainable work situation.
Keywords: Workplace, Psychological phenomena, social support, registered nurses, Health
Received: 25 Feb 2025; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nagel and Nilsson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Cicilia Nagel, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.