Abstract
BACKGROUND: Practicing self-care is a requisite for nurses as they face the extreme physical, mental, and emotional challenges presented by the pandemic era. This study aimed to examine factors that contribute to self-care-self-regulation (SCSR) and investigate the mediation effect of psychological and physical health in the relationship between work stress and SCSR among registered nurses in the United States. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the data collected from 386 registered nurses who completed an online survey over a 3-week period during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 19 to May 6, 2020). The survey assessed demographic and work-related characteristics, work stress, depressive mood, self-rated health, and SCSR. The model was tested with depressive mood as the first mediator and self-rated health as the second mediator. The potential serial mediation effect was analyzed using PROCESS macros adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: The sequential indirect effect of work stress on SCSR through depressive mood and self-rated health in series was significant, while its direct effect was not. CONCLUSION: The findings of the path analysis demonstrate that psychological and physical health status is important to promote self-care behaviors when nurses experience high work stress.