Emotions Among Nurses Predict a Growing Risk for Staff Loss in the Midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic

According to a survey conducted in October by the Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (SuPer) and NayaDaya Inc., more than half of the SuPer members experience alienating emotions toward their work. The situation has worsened since this summer – the risk for them changing their careers is now even greater.

The survey asked SuPer's members’ feelings about their daily work, staffing levels, Finnish healthcare, and authorities' decisions regarding the corona epidemic. The most common emotion in all contexts was disappointment, which indicates unattained expectations and unkept promises. In the case of staffing levels, almost 40 percent of respondents expressed disappointment, almost 60 percent emotions that lead to giving up, and almost 80 percent negative feelings in general.

“The remarkably negative distribution of emotions is related to the new staffing regulation, which came into force in October but has so far not brought the promised relief. All our member sectors currently experience lack of personnel resources,” says Päivi Jokimäki, Director of Communications at the Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (SuPer).

Practical nurses' feelings about the Finnish health care and the decisions made by the authorities indicate that the corona epidemic is out of control. In addition to disappointment, the most common emotions about health care were compassion and fear. In the context of authorities’ decisions, however, the top three emotions, in addition to disappointment, were contentment and fear. Fear indicates a threat and poor control of the epidemic. The emotional impact on behavior is mostly negative and crippling.

“As the corona epidemic continues, nurses are starting to get really tired. The responses and results of each of the perspectives we examined, show a crisis that is reflected in many ways in all areas of care work. The constant use of masks also causes physical fatigue,” Jokimäki emphasizes.

“The results paint a worrying picture of the situation for nurses and healthcare at a time when the second wave of the coronavirus is getting stronger day by day. The emotion and behavior studies we have been conducting for several months with SuPer show that conditions are getting worse, emotional distress is increasing, and the risk of nurses giving up their jobs is greater than before,” says Timo Järvinen, CEO at NayaDaya Oy, which conducted the study with SuPer.

The survey, conducted in early October 2020 by SuPer and NayaDaya Inc., involved 3,175 SuPer members in Finland.

The emotion data was analyzed through the NayaDaya® Emotional and Behavioral Intelligence, based on the scientific theory, research, and algorithm. The method benefits from the pre-existing scientific research independently conducted and published by the Geneva Emotion Research Group at the University of Geneva.

Annex: Results of the study of the emotions and behavior of SuPer's members (see attachment below)

Further  Information:
Timo Järvinen, CEO, NayaDaya Inc., tel. +358 40 505 7745, [email protected]

The Finnish Union of Practical Nurses SuPer is the largest trade union in Finland for social services and health care professionals. SuPer is a strong and brave advocate of its 90,000 members, a developer of the profession and training as well as a social influencer that also participates in international activities. Further information: https://www.superliitto.fi/in-english/.