Literature Review of Studies on South Korean Nurses' Depressive Symptoms

Park, Young Sook; Kim, Jeong Hee

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose was to investigate the literature on depression among South Korean nurses in order to identify overall trends regarding depression.
METHODS
Forty-five papers published between 1998 and 2017 in three Korean databases-RISS4U, DBPIA, and KISS-were analyzed.
RESULTS
Depression showed significant positive associations with job stress, burnout, intent to leave, and somatic symptoms such as fatigue and trouble sleeping. Poor work environments such as staff shortage, work overload, and shift work were also positively associated with depression. Higher job satisfaction, resilience, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and social support were negatively correlated with and acted as significant buffers against depression.
CONCLUSION
These results indicate that healthcare policymakers must pay more attention to the management and prevention of nurses' depression. In order to effectively do so, poor work conditions, which involve long working hours, high patient-to-nurse ratios, and extreme workloads, should be improved. Simultaneously, nursing managers should implement initiatives such as counseling and competency improvement programs, and stress management to reduce and prevent depression among nurses and strengthen their positive competency. Also, further research is required to clarify the prevalence of depression in South Korean nurses, with more meta-analyses also required to identify variations in depression rates owing to various factors.