Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 6, 2022; 10(19): 6472-6482
Published online Jul 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i19.6472
Family relationship of nurses in COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study
Melike Yavaş Çelik, Meryem Kiliç
Melike Yavaş Çelik, Department of Nursing, Yusuf Serefoglu Faculty of Health Sciences, Kilis 7 Aralık University, Kilis 79000, Turkey
Meryem Kiliç, Department of Nursing, SANKO University, Gaziantep 27000, Turkey
Author contributions: Çelik MY and Kiliç M completed the manuscript and gave their final approval of the version to be published.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Kilis 7 Aralık University (2020/25 decision number).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: The identities of the participants are confidential, data can be shared without personal information when requested.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Melike Yavaş Çelik, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, Yusuf Serefoglu Faculty of Health Sciences, Kilis 7 Aralık University, 7 Aşit Aralık Street, Karataş Campus, Kilis 79000, Turkey. www_com_tr@hotmail.com
Received: December 9, 2021
Peer-review started: December 9, 2021
First decision: January 12, 2022
Revised: January 22, 2022
Accepted: May 27, 2022
Article in press: May 27, 2022
Published online: July 6, 2022
Processing time: 197 Days and 1.7 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

This research demonstrates that nurses feel pain because the pandemic process has separated them from their family and children.

Research motivation

As mothers, nurses experience emotions such as sadness, unhappiness, anxiety, and fear due to the inability of fulfilling their motherhood roles.

Research objectives

To demonstrate that nurses’ anxiousness about themselves, their children and family, and inability to cope with the situation.

Research methods

We demonstrated that nurses’ communication with their family and children has been interrupted and their parenting roles ruined.

Research results

This study demonstrated that the nurses were separated from their children, failed to meet their needs, and their motherhood role was altered in this process.

Research conclusions

It was determined that the nurses suffered from conditions such as change in parent-infant/child relation and insufficiency in intrafamilial process coping.

Research perspectives

The research shows nurses suffer from family relationship breakdown and insufficiency in intrafamilial coping. Nurses who try to cope with the panic and fear caused by the pandemic feel pain because the process has separated them from their family and children. Their communication with their family and children has been interrupted and their parenting roles have been ruined. It is a natural right for a mother to spend time with her children. As this right has been taken away from them and they have faced a life-threatening disease, their psychology has been affected negatively. Developing the ability of nurses to regulate their emotions and the strategies of coping with this situation effectively is crucial for preventing and controlling the pandemic. It is necessary to work harder to manage the anxiety and stress in this particular group and help to prevent burnout, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder in the longer term. In this respect, we as nurses need to focus on finding solutions supporting our colleagues. In addition, the present study revealed the necessity of stressing the preservation of family integrity and the maintenance of mother-infant/child relationship.