Other Titles
Community or Commodity? Perceived Nurse Support During the Covid-19 Pandemic [Title Slide]
Other Titles
Rapid Presentation Round
Abstract
Purpose: High stress, moral distress, and burnout are common in nursing workplaces and are associated with poorer patient and nurse outcomes. Research showed that excessive work-related stress was a growing problem for the nursing workforce prior to the Covid-19 pandemic (Bakhamis et al., 2019). However, working conditions became considerably more stressful because pandemic-related workplace changes made previous methods of caring, connecting empathetically with patients, and behaving altruistically difficult to impossible for nurses to achieve (Foli et al., 2021; McAndrew et al., 2023). Community connectedness and mutual social support may be buffers against the harmful effects of chronic occupational stress and are important to maintaining a sense of community between nurses, healthcare institutions, and the communities nurses serve (Fisak et al., 2020; Pethrick et al., 2017). The purpose of this study is to examine how nurses felt supported by their healthcare institutions and their communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive survey of US nurses took place from November 2021-January 2022. We employed content analysis, a qualitative method in which data is coded, analyzed, and abstracted into themes that fit the data (Erlingsson & Brysiewicz, 2017), to analyze the following free-text survey questions: (1) “How, if at all, do you feel your healthcare institution has supported your nursing practice throughout the Covid-19 pandemic?” and “How, if at all, do you feel your community has supported your nursing practice throughout the Covid-19 pandemic?”
Results: N=1682 nurses participated in the study, of whom n=1102 answered both free-text questions. One theme, desire for community with others, was elucidated during analysis. Four subthemes described how nurses perceived their desire for community with others was met: (1) Healthcare institution resource provision, (2) Presence and camaraderie, (3) Perceived commodification versus supportive gestures, and (4) Erosion of support over time. Gestures of support were interpreted by nurses within the context the support was provided. For example, nurses interpreted token gestures like verbal affirmations or free food to be very supportive when provided by members of the community. The same gestures were felt to be inauthentic or even dehumanizing when provided by healthcare administrators unless such tokens were also accompanied by help to improve working conditions (e.g., personal protective equipment or extra help on the unit). Some nurses also perceived conflicts of interest between the business interests of healthcare administrators and the provision of safe and effective patient care.
Conclusions: Nurses in this study expressed a human need for support through community with others, however many nurses felt they did not receive the support they needed. Support may be interpreted as unsupportive or inauthentic if the context it is provided in is not carefully considered. Provision of support that matches nurse expectations for a safe and adequately resourced work environment is essential to successful cultivation of community connectedness between nurses, healthcare administrators, and the communities served.
Notes
References:
Bakhamis, L., Paul, D., Smith, H., & Coustasse, A. (2019). Still an epidemic: The burnout syndrome in hospital registered nurses. Health Care Management, 38(1), 3-10. DOI: 10.1097/HCM.0000000000000243
Erlingsson, C., & Brysiewicz, P. (2017). A hands-on guide to doing content analysis. African Journal of Emergency Medicine, 7(3), 93-9.
Fisak, J., Turner, B., Shepard, K., Convoy, S., & Villaruz Fisak, J. (2020). Buddy care, a peer-to-peer intervention: A pilot quality improvement project to decrease occupational stress among an overseas military population. Military Medicine, 185(9/10), e1428-34.
Foli, K., Forster, A., Chang, C., Zhang, L., & Chiu, Y. (2021). Voices from the Covid-19 frontlines: Nurses’ trauma and coping. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(9), 3853-66.
McAndrew, N., Rosa, W., Moore, K., Christianson, J., AbuZahra, T., Mussatti, M., .. & Guttormson, J. (2023). Sprinting in a marathon: Nursing staff and nurse leaders make meaning of practicing in Covid-19 devoted units pre-vaccine. Sage Open Nursing, 9, 1-13.
Pethrick, H., Nowell, L., Oddone Paolucci, E., Lorenzetti, L., Jacobsen, M., Clancy, T., & Lorenzetti, D. (2020). Peer mentoring in medical resident education: A systematic review. Canadian Medical Education Journal, 11(6), e128-37.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Descriptive/Correlational
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
COVID-19, Psychosocial Support, Occupational Stress, Burnout
Recommended Citation
Christianson, Jacqueline; McCarthy, Madaline; Sommers-Olson, Bonnie; Guttormson, Jill; and Johnson, Norah Louise, "Community or Commodity? Nurse Perceptions of Support From Healthcare Institutions and the Community" (2026). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 9.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2024/presentations_2024/9
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2024
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-02-12
Community or Commodity? Nurse Perceptions of Support From Healthcare Institutions and the Community
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Purpose: High stress, moral distress, and burnout are common in nursing workplaces and are associated with poorer patient and nurse outcomes. Research showed that excessive work-related stress was a growing problem for the nursing workforce prior to the Covid-19 pandemic (Bakhamis et al., 2019). However, working conditions became considerably more stressful because pandemic-related workplace changes made previous methods of caring, connecting empathetically with patients, and behaving altruistically difficult to impossible for nurses to achieve (Foli et al., 2021; McAndrew et al., 2023). Community connectedness and mutual social support may be buffers against the harmful effects of chronic occupational stress and are important to maintaining a sense of community between nurses, healthcare institutions, and the communities nurses serve (Fisak et al., 2020; Pethrick et al., 2017). The purpose of this study is to examine how nurses felt supported by their healthcare institutions and their communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive survey of US nurses took place from November 2021-January 2022. We employed content analysis, a qualitative method in which data is coded, analyzed, and abstracted into themes that fit the data (Erlingsson & Brysiewicz, 2017), to analyze the following free-text survey questions: (1) “How, if at all, do you feel your healthcare institution has supported your nursing practice throughout the Covid-19 pandemic?” and “How, if at all, do you feel your community has supported your nursing practice throughout the Covid-19 pandemic?”
Results: N=1682 nurses participated in the study, of whom n=1102 answered both free-text questions. One theme, desire for community with others, was elucidated during analysis. Four subthemes described how nurses perceived their desire for community with others was met: (1) Healthcare institution resource provision, (2) Presence and camaraderie, (3) Perceived commodification versus supportive gestures, and (4) Erosion of support over time. Gestures of support were interpreted by nurses within the context the support was provided. For example, nurses interpreted token gestures like verbal affirmations or free food to be very supportive when provided by members of the community. The same gestures were felt to be inauthentic or even dehumanizing when provided by healthcare administrators unless such tokens were also accompanied by help to improve working conditions (e.g., personal protective equipment or extra help on the unit). Some nurses also perceived conflicts of interest between the business interests of healthcare administrators and the provision of safe and effective patient care.
Conclusions: Nurses in this study expressed a human need for support through community with others, however many nurses felt they did not receive the support they needed. Support may be interpreted as unsupportive or inauthentic if the context it is provided in is not carefully considered. Provision of support that matches nurse expectations for a safe and adequately resourced work environment is essential to successful cultivation of community connectedness between nurses, healthcare administrators, and the communities served.
Description
Cultivating a mutually supportive relationship between nurses, healthcare administrators, and the communities served by healthcare institutions may be a buffer against the harmful effects of occupational stress. This presentation will discuss a study examining how nurses perceive support provided by healthcare institutions and the community.