Global emotional and spiritual well-being and resilience of Advanced Practice Nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotional and spiritual well-being and resilience of a global sample of Advanced Practice Nurses.

Design: A web-based cross-sectional mixed methods study. Survey data were collected from Advanced Practice Nurses globally over a 2-month period ending on 31 August 2020.

Methods: The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, FACIT-12 Spiritual Well-being Scale and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10 were used to quantify emotional and spiritual well-being and resilience of Advanced Practice Nurses' globally. The survey was distributed internationally using snowball sampling via a secure platform (Qualtrics). Results were analysed using various bivariate tests for associations and group differences.

Results: Nine hundred and twenty-eight Advanced Practice Nurses from 53 countries participated in the study. Study participants reported meaningfully lower scores in resilience and emotional well-being compared with non-pandemic scores. Participants from countries with well-developed Advanced Practice Nurses roles reported lower resilience and well-being scores compared with those from countries where Advanced Practice Nurses roles are still being developed. Each scale revealed significant positive associations with the other scales.

Conclusions: Emotional and spiritual well-being and resilience of Advance Practice Nurses has been significantly impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of their work location, work hours, credential or demographics, the APNs in our study reported lower levels of resilience and mental well-being compared with typical scores on the instruments.

Keywords: Advanced Practice Nurse; COVID-19; emotional well-being; mixed methods; resilience; spiritual well-being.