Abstract: Objective: To analyze the relationship between psychological stress and coping styles of obstetrics nurses under COVID-19, and to provide a reference for nursing managers to establish a psychological early warning system for nurses in the COVID-19. Methods: In February 2020, 131 obstetrics nurses from 5 tertiary general hospitals were selected by convenient sampling in Beijing. Psychological stress and coping styles were investigted. Results: The item score of psychological stress of obstetric nurses were 1.52±0.35, and the item score of each dimension from high to low was: fear, hypochondria, depression, neurasthenia, obsessive-anxiety. The score of positive coping style was 36.83±6.29, while that of negative coping style was 25.33±7.64. The scores of psychological stress of obstetrics nurses with different working years, family economic status, marital status, fertility status, family support, and work motivation were different (all P<0.05). The overall score of psychological stress showed a significant negative correlation with positive coping style (r=-0.418, P<0.001), and a significant positive correlation with negative coping style (r=0.483, P<0.001). Conclusion: Under the COVID-19 epidemic, obstetric nurses have psychological stress problems, such as fear and hypochondria, but they have a better coping style, and the more positive the coping style is, the better their psychological stress status is. Nursing managers can improve the coping style of nurses to alleviate the psychological stress problems.

Key words: COVID-19; obstetrics nurses; psychological stress; coping style; health workforce