Background: During an epidemic of a novel infectious disease, many healthcare workers suffer from mental health problems.
Objectives: The aims of this study were to test the following hypotheses: stigma and hardiness exert both direct effects on mental health and also indirect (mediated) effects on mental health through stress in nurses working at a government-designated hospital during a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) epidemic.
Methods: A total of 187 participants were recruited using a convenience sampling method. The direct and indirect effects related to the study hypotheses were computed using a series of ordinary least-squares regressions and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals with 10,000 bootstrap resamples from the data.
Discussions: The influences of stigma and hardiness on mental health were partially mediated through stress in nurses working at a hospital during a MERS-CoV epidemic. Their mental health was influenced more by direct effects than by indirect effects.
Keywords: Hardiness; Mental health; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus; Nurse; Stigma; Stress.
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