Nurses are facing unprecedented amounts of pressure because of the ongoing global health challenges. Improving nurses’ resilience to job-related stress and enhancing their strategies to cope effectively with stressors are key issues facing many healthcare institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, interest has been growing in highlighting the effects of interventions on stress management, such as mindfulness, meditation and relaxation techniques. However, in the light of the human contact restrictions it still remains unclear what strategies would be suitable to tackle job-related stress throughout the pandemic crisis and the era after it. A systematic review, following the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)” guidelines, was therefore conducted to explore the advances in stress management interventions and suggest up-to-date directions for future practice. In total, 5,931 records were screened and 27 studies were considered for further analysis, covering only nurses. Our findings underline the importance of developing and implementing programs that are not only conveniently accessible in the workplace but also, they meet the strict conditions for minimizing human contacts. To this end, evidence-based interventions that may be delivered through digital technology combined with cognitive- behavioral components seem to be a promising solution for combating the detrimental psychological and physiological impact among nurses. For example, the integration of virtual reality (VR) as a tool of stress management into mental health research has the potential to offer a radical transformation of the traditional intervention programs, allowing people in parallel to have access to high-quality and cost-effective interventions irrespective of the surrounding conditions. Therefore, special attention should be paid to advancing technology-assisted interventions that incorporate theory-driven self-help strategies, and examining their long-term effects as compared to conventional preventive programs, such as face-to-face approaches.
Dr. Maria Velana is psychologist with two master’s degrees, namely MSc (Hons) in Applied Public Health and, MA (Hons) in Physical Activity and Health. In July 2019, she completed her doctoral degree in human biology (Hons) at the Medical Faculty of Ulm University, Ulm (Germany). During the PhD program she investigated the influence of emotions on pain experience and physiological responses under experimental pain induction and how these findings can be employed in clinical settings so as to advance treatments for acute pain. Since November 2019, she works as Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ergonomics at IfADo. In the frame of project “Digital Angel” Dr. Velana is responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of preventive interventions that aim to enhance mental healthcare among nurses in German clinics and reduce their job-related stress by increasing psychological well-being, and creating supportive working conditions.
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