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Anxiety and Sleep Disturbances Among Nurses Working at COVID-19 Dedicated Hospitals in Bangladesh

*Sujit Mondal  -  Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh
Mohammad Nurul Anowar  -  Faculty of Nursing, National Institute of Advanced Nursing Education and Research, Bangladesh
Mosammet Khaleda Akter  -  Faculty of Nursing, National Institute of Advanced Nursing Education and Research, Bangladesh
Shanzida Khatun  -  Faculty of Nursing, National Institute of Advanced Nursing Education and Research, Bangladesh
Open Access Copyright (c) 2025 by the Authors, Published by Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed nurses to conditions that threaten their health, well-being, and ability to work. While the physical health of nurses has received more attention, there has been limited focus on the long-term psychological effects. In Bangladesh, there is very limited research on anxiety and sleep disturbances among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the relationship among anxiety, sleep disturbances, and sociodemographic factors in nurses working at COVID-19 dedicated hospitals in Bangladesh.

Methods: A descriptive correlational study was conducted among 102 nurses selected using a convenience sampling technique from two dedicated COVID-19 hospitals. The self-administered Anxiety Scale and Medical Outcome Study Sleep Scale were used to collect data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Descriptive statistics included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum. Pearson product-moment correlation (r), t-tests, and ANOVA were used for inferential analyses.

Results: About two-fifths (40.2%) of the nurses reported mild to moderate levels of anxiety, and the majority (84.3%) experienced sleep disturbances. A significant positive correlation (r=0.54, p=0.000) was found between anxiety and sleep disturbances. There was a significant relationship between nurses’ age and anxiety (p=0.000), marital status (p=0.000), family type (p=0.000) highest professional education (p=0.000), working duration (r=–0.38, p=0.000), COVID-19 positive history (p=0.016), training (p=0.000), and presence of comorbidity (p=0.008). Additionally, age (p=0.000), marital status (p=0.020), family type (p=0.000) highest professional education (p=0.000), working duration (r=0.363, p=0.000), training (p=0.002), and presence of comorbidity (p=0.015) were also significantly associated with sleep disturbances.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that age, gender, education, family type, marital status, training, and comorbidity were significantly associated with increased levels of anxiety and sleep disturbances. These results highlight the importance of addressing these sociodemographic factors in mental health interventions to better support the well-being of frontline nurses during the pandemic.
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Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19 dedicated hospitals; pandemic; sleep disturbances

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