Death Anxiety and Related Factors in Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A systematic Review

Background and Objectives: High workload, insufficient resources, and many stressors in the workplace have led to the imposition of physical and psychological pressures on nurses, which exposes them to death anxiety (DA). This systematic review aimed to assess the DA and factors associated with its in nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: An extensive search was conducted on Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Iranmedex, and Scientific Information Database (SID) databases via keywords such asincluding "Death", "Death Anxiety", "Nurses", and "COVID-19", from December 2019 to November 10, 2021. Results: 818 nurses were enrolled in four papers. The mean age and work experience of nurses Nurses’ mean age and work experiences were 31.21 (SD=5.43) and 7.60 (SD=6.73) years, respectively. The mean DA of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic was 7.30 (SD=2.23). Also, 31.05% of nurses had a high level of DADA level during the COVID-19 pandemic. Age, sex, work experience, working hours per week, childbearing, several patients needing end‑of‑life care, direct participation in resuscitation operations, cases of direct participation in resuscitation operations, cases of patient death, depression, mental health status, and life satisfaction were influential factors in DA nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Thus, nursing policymakers should pay special attention to these factors related to the use of nurses' health maintenance and promotion programs to increase the quality of nursing care for COVID-19 patients. Also, it is recommended that psychological and communication support be provided to nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.