Caring behaviors and associated predictive factors in nurses caring for Covid-19 patients: An application of the theory of planned behavior.

Background And Objective: Amid the Covid-19 arena, nurses played a decisive role, and this disease influences the caring behavior of nurses. The purpose of this study is to determine the caring behaviors and its associated predictive factors among nurses caring for Covid-19 patients, and use the theory of planned behavior.

Methods: A 2021 cross-sectional study enrolled 311 nurses working in the hospitals in Ilam (Iran), who were selected using the census method. The data collecting tools included the form of demographic information and the Caring Behaviors of Nurses Scale (CBNS) based on the theory of planned behavior. The obtained data were analyzed in IBM SPSS v.18 using descriptive and inferential statistical analyses (e.g., regression, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis tests).

Results: The mean and standard deviation (SD) of the behavioral beliefs scores in nurses with positive and negative care behaviors were 39.57 ± 6.22 and 33.97 ± 5.12, respectively, indicating a significant difference between the two variables (p = 0.002). The scores of subjective norm in nurses with positive (10.44 ± 1.52) and negative (9.25 ± 1.65) care behaviors were the lowest compared to other subscales (p = 0.020). The logistic regression analysis results revealed a correlation between age, marital status, organizational position, with the caring behaviors of nurses dealing with these patients.

Conclusions: Nurses develop a positive attitude towards the care of patients with Covid-19 and ponder that caring for these patients is vastly indispensable. However, most nurses are not intrinsically enthusiastic and consider such cares as a part of their duties.