Individuals Living Rize in COVID-19 Pandemic Process Level of Empathy and Attitudes toward Nurses

Abstract

Background: The opinion of the society on nursing affects both the status of the nursing profession and the attitude toward the profession. The negative perception of the nursing profession reduces job stress, job dissatisfaction, disappointment and job performance among nurses, and affects the quality of care. The study aims to determine the empathy levels and attitudes of individuals living in Rize toward nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: The study is in a descriptive research design. The population comprised individuals over the age of 18. The data were collected using the snowball sampling method with the Attitude Scale toward Nurses and the Empathy Scale through social media tools. The data were analyzed with the Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis analysis, Tamhane’s T2 post hoc test, and Spearman correlation.

Results: About 61.8% of the participants were female, and the mean age was 38.5 ± 10.49. About 73.3% were university graduates, and 77.6% were married. While the mean score of participants’ attitudes toward nurses’ attentiveness in their profession was above the moderate level (43.77 ± 9.61), the mean score regarding the attitudes toward the sensitivity of nurses in their profession was close to a high level (36.03 ± 5.09). The empathy level mean score of the participants (53.51 ± 6.92) is also close to a high level.

Conclusion: Participants’ attitudes toward nurses were found to be positive, and their empathy levels were high. As the positive attitude toward nurses’ attentiveness increases, the attitude toward their sensitivity and empathy level also increases