Existential Anxiety of Nurses in the Corona-Virus Units and Its Relation with Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth: A Survey in Southeast Iran

Background: The study aimed to investigate the relationship between existential anxiety, post-traumatic growth, and resilience in nurses working in COVID-19 units of hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Methods This was a Descriptive-analytical study. The researchers conducted this study on 224 nurses working in the COVID-19 units of four hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences in Southeast Iran from 2020 to 2021. They collected data using demographic questionnaire, Masoudi Sani et al.'s existential anxiety questionnaire, Conner-Davidson resilience scale, post-traumatic growth inventory. They also used SPSS V 25 to analyze data. Results The results suggested that the mean score of existential anxiety was 80.92 ± 9.18, the mean resilience score was 63.51 ± 15.00, and the mean post-traumatic growth score was 87.69 ± 16.55. The results showed no statistically significant relationship between existential anxiety, resilience, and post-traumatic growth (P > 0.005) but a negative and significant relationship between post-traumatic growth and resilience (P < 0.001, r=-0.38). there were no statistical relationship between the mean existential anxiety score, age, sex, and education level, but the mean existential anxiety score in the emergency personnel was significantly higher than that in those of other departments. Conclusion The results demonstrated that the mean scores of existential anxiety and resilience were moderate, while post-traumatic growth score was high. The researchers suggest educational and interventional measures to improve resilience and reduce existential anxiety among nurses.