Summary: This study tested whether the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) could reduce COVID-19-related fear and anxiety in emergency department nurses, using a pre-post, two-group design with 84 nurses split between an EFT intervention group and a control group. After the intervention, the EFT group showed significant reductions in COVID-19 fear, distress levels, and state anxiety compared to the control group, which showed no meaningful change; trait anxiety also dropped in the EFT group but not significantly.
The authors conclude that group-administered EFT sessions helped emergency nurses better manage their COVID-19-related fear and anxiety.
Citation and Link: Okut, G., Ecevit Alpar, Ş., & Dönmez, E. (2022). The effect of the emotional freedom technique on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) fear and anxiety levels of nurses working in the emergency department: A randomized controlled study. Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, 13(4), 269–278. https://doi.org/10.14744/phd.2022.60948