Psychological first aid intervention: rescue from psychological distress and improving the pre-licensure nursing students' resilience amidst COVID-19 crisis and beyond

Rasha Salah Eweida; Zohour Ibrahim Rashwan; Leena Mohammad Khonji; Abdullah Abdulrahman Bin Shalhoub; Nashwa Ibrahim

doi:10.1016/j.sciaf.2022.e01472

Psychological first aid intervention: rescue from psychological distress and improving the pre-licensure nursing students' resilience amidst COVID-19 crisis and beyond

Sci Afr. 2023 Mar:19:e01472. doi: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2022.e01472. Epub 2022 Nov 28.

Authors

Rasha Salah Eweida^{1

2}, Zohour Ibrahim Rashwan^{3

4}, Leena Mohammad Khonji⁵, Abdullah Abdulrahman Bin Shalhoub⁶, Nashwa Ibrahim⁷

Affiliations

¹ Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt.
² Midwifery Speciality, Nursing Department, College of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Bahrain, Bahrain.
³ Pediatric Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt.
⁴ Pediatric Nursing specialty, Nursing Department, College of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Bahrain, Bahrain.
⁵ Nursing Department, College of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Bahrain, Bahrain.
⁶ KSU Fellowship in Clinical Pathology, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: The public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in mental and psychological ramifications on the healthcare professionals. The pre-licensure nursing students found themselves not only fighting against the baneful virus but also weak ego resilience. At this point, enriching the pre-licensure nursing students with psychological first aid (PFA) could help them to recover from the feeling of psychological distress and improve their resilience capacity to encounter any upcoming outbreaks.

Methods: A quasi-experimental two groups, a pre-post-test study was used in which sixty-four pre-licensure nursing students completed a baseline survey which revealed high levels of psychological distress and low resilience capacity due to the COVID-19 crisis. The study group engaged in the Psychological First- aid Intervention (PFA) at the end of the clinical practicum course period, while the comparison group received routine psychological support.

Results: A significant reduction in the psychological distress levels among students in the PFA group (F^ET=7.83, P = 0. 001). Likewise, significant improvements in the students' resilience capacity level immediately after the intervention (F^ET=3.34, P = 0.019) and during the two-month follow-up (F^ET=12.94, P = 0. 001). The implementation of PFA enhanced the pre-licensure nursing students' psychological health status and resilience capacity levels after their clinical training amid the ambiance of the COVID-19 crisis.

Conclusion: The PFA effectively fostered the pre-licensure nursing students' recovery from the COVID-19 related- psychological distress and improve their resilience capacity. The application of RAPID model is recommended to reduce stress and prevent burnout among novice and future nurses who show signs of psychological exhaustion.

Keywords: Connor-Davidson Resilience Capacity Scale, (CD-RISC); General Health Questionnaire, (GHQ); National Institute of Mental Health, (NIMH); Pre-licensure nursing students; Psychological distress; Psychological first- aid; Psychological first- aid Intervention, (PFA).