To explore the influencing factors of clinical nurses′ self perceived stress during the prevention and control of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Through the "Questionnaire Star" platform from February 10 to March 20, 2020, 260 clinical nurses from 3 grade A hospitals in Guangzhou who participating in epidemic prevention and control were investigated, and 245 valid questionnaires were recovered. They were surveyed by the general situation questionnaire, workload questionnaire, emergency response ability questionnaire and perceived stress scale. Univariate analysis and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the influencing factors of self perceived stress in clinical nurses, and the specific paths among the influencing factors were discussed through path analysis.

In this study, 245 nurses were included, 133 of whom had high perceived stress during the outbreak of COVID-19, accounting for 54.29%. Nurses with high workload accounted for 60.41%(148/245), and nurses with strong emergency ability accounted for 55.51%(136/245). Univariate analysis results showed that education, department, whether children living with them, whether they having contacted with suspected or confirmed patients, self-rated mental health status and workload had effects on the self perceived stress of clinical nurses (χ²=7.59, 24.13, 5.21, 6.07, 7.47, 5.19, all P<0.05). The results of Logistic regression model showed that different education levels, such as undergraduate (OR=0.208), master′s degree and above (OR=0.331), self-rated mental health (OR=1.933) and workload (OR=2.100) were the influencing factors of nurses′ self perceived stress (all P<0.05). Path analysis showed that workload had direct and indirect effects on self perceived stress, and mediating effects were regulated by self-rated mental health.

The self perceived pressure of clinical nurses is at a high level during the prevention and control of COVID-19. Nurses with lower education level, heavier workload and worse self-rated mental health status are at greater risk of high self perceived stress.