Family relationship of nurses in COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND This research demonstrates that nurses feel pain because the pandemic process has separated them from their family and children. AIM To examine the family relationship situation of nurses in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS The research adopted a descriptive qualitative design. Participants were selected by the snowball method. An individual in-depth interview technique was used while the participants were away. In-depth interviews were made with a total of 27 nurses. Nine of these nurses were excluded from the study due to communication problems and device problems during the interview. RESULTS This research showed that nurses suffered from family relationship breakdown and insufficiency in intrafamilial coping. The nurses stayed away from their families due to overtime and fear of COVID-19. They cannot meet the needs of their children and spouses for whom they are responsible, and they cannot spare time for them. They were living a tiring life with great responsibility and faced with mental problems such as burnout syndrome and depression. This study was conducted in three cities with a high number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey. We investigated three themes: Breakdown in continuity of intrafamilial relationship, ineffectiveness in role performance, and ineffective individual coping. CONCLUSION The nurses suffer from conditions such as change in parent-infant/child relation and insufficiency in intrafamilial process coping.