The Relationship Between Cognitive Emotion Regulation and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Nurses

Introduction. Numerous studies have shown thatthere is significant relationship between nurses’emotional states and their work performance. Thisrelationship is particularly significant when symptomsof distress (depression, anxiety, and stress) areelevated. Cognitive emotion regulation strategiesthat support effective responses to environmentalchallenges are termed adaptive, while those that impedefunctioning are known as maladaptive.Aim. To examine mental health of nurses, as measuredby depression, anxiety and stress and to investigatethe contribution of cognitive emotion regulationstrategies to the prediction of depression, anxietyand stress.Methods. Data were collected in February 2023 atOsijek University Hospital. A total of 82 nurses participatedin the study. Data were collected usingsociodemographic questions, the Depression, Anxiety,and Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995),and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire(Garnefski & Kraaij, 2006).Results. Although most nurses do not experiencedepression, anxiety, and stress beyond the normallevel, there is a non-negligible proportion who exhibitsymptoms ranging from mild to extremely severelevels of these negative emotional states.The largest proportion of severe and extremely severeresults, that might be of clinical significance, was observed for anxiety (18.53%). The maladaptivestrategy of blaming others was found to be asignificant predictor of depression, anxiety, stressand positive refocusing was significant predictor ofstress.Conclusion. The results suggest that the use of specificcognitive emotion regulation strategies plays animportant role in nurses’ mental health, measured asrates of depression, anxiety and stress. This underscoresthe need for and importance of implementingeducation and training programmes on cognitiveemotion regulation strategies in the professionaleducation of nurses.