The Effect of Managers’ Crisis Management Skills on the Secondary Traumatic Stress Levels of Nurses in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to determine the effect of their managers’ crisis management skills on the secondary traumatic stress levels of nurses. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 203 nurses working at a university hospital. The data were collected using the Information Form, Crisis Management Skills Scale, and Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale. Reporting is consistent with the STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies. Results: According to the nurses, the total mean score of the Crisis Management Skills Scale was 3.11 (SD=0.86), and the total mean score of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale was 2.77 (SD=0.74). There was a weak significant negative correlation between the scores of the scales (r=-0.202, p= 0.004). Among the nurses, length of service in the university hospital (?1=0.231; p=0.030), working in the intensive care unit (?1=0.164; p<0.035), caring for patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 (?1=0.207; p<0.01) positively affected their secondary traumatic stress scores, but their managers' crisis management skills (?1=-0.186; p<0.01) negatively affected these secondary traumatic stress scores statistically (F=2.913, p<0.001, R2=0.222, Adjusted R2=0.146). Conclusion: Secondary traumatic stress levels of the nurses decreased when their managers were able to manage the crises effectively, but this situation was negatively affected by working longer in the university hospital and caring for the COVID-19 patients. © 2023 The Authors.