A cross-sectional study on public health nurses' disaster competencies and influencing factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea

Abstract

Public health nurses are performing various roles during the COVID-19 pandemic: counseling, surveillance, specimen collection, epidemiological investigation, education, and vaccination. This study investigated their disaster competencies in the context of emerging infectious diseases, and identified their influencing factors based on Deci and Ryans self-determination theory. A convenience sample of 242 was selected from public health nurses working in a metropolitan city of South Korea. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearsons correlation, and multiple regression analysis using the SPSS Statistics ver. 23.0. Results showed that the significant factors influencing disaster competencies included willingness to respond to a disaster, preventive behavior, experience of receiving education on emerging infectious diseases response, public health center experience, job satisfaction, and education. This regression model explained 33.2% of the variance in disaster competencies. Willingness to respond to a disaster was the strongest factor affecting disaster competencies. Based on these results, it is concluded that interventions to improve disaster competencies and psychological well-being of public health nurses are needed. Additionally, strategies such as creating a supportive work environment, deploying experienced nurses primarily on the front line, and reducing the tasks of permanent public health nurses should be implemented.