1. Nurses’ Reactions to SARS: A Cross National Comparison between China and Canada Esther Greenglass*, Sue Coffey*, Kan Shi#, Lisa Fiksenbaum* & XueFeng Chen# *York University, Toronto, Canada # Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,China Paper presented at ICP, Bejing, China August 8-13, 2004

3. The Samples Most were women Most were registered nurses Canada n= 379 China n=173 Canadian nurses (43 years old) were significantly older than Chinese nurses (28 years old)

4. HAVE YOU EVERY BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH SUSPECTED OR PROBABLE SARS? CANADACHINA YES837 NO371127 TOTAL379164 (  2 (1)= 62.98, p<.001

5. DID YOU OR DO YOU WORK WITH SARS PATIENTS? CANADACHINA YES78130 NO25529 TOTAL333159  2 (1) =150.08, p<.001

6. SARS Threat Degree to which respondents worried that they would get SARS Sum of four items 4 point scale with 4 a great deal Sample item: I felt nervous about getting SARS

7. SARS Threat Canada vs. China t= -3.01, df=550, p<.01 Canada China 9.97 10.73

8. Comparative Risk of Getting SARS Perceived risk of getting SARS compared to the risk of getting gastroenteritis, HIV/AIDS, and the flu Mean of three items 7-point scale with 7 very high Sample item: Compared to my risk of getting the flu through exposure at work, my risk of getting SARS is…

9. Comparative Risk of Getting SARS Canada vs. China t= -5.87, df=550, p<.001 Canada China 4.31 5.19

10. Organizational Support Degree to which respondents agreed that the hospital supported nurses and their concerns regarding SARS Sum of five items 5 point scale with 1 strongly agree Sample item: The hospital listened to nurses’concerns regarding SARS

11. Organizational Support Canada vs. China t= 16.53, df=548, p<.001 Canada China 14.46 7.39 *Lower values indicate higher levels of organizational support

12. Preventive Coping Extent to which nurses engaged in behavior to prevent getting SARS themselves Sum of five items 4 point scale with 4 completely true Sample item: I did what I could so that I would not get SARS

13. Preventive Coping Canada vs. China t= 11.98, df=547, p<.001 Canada China 16.41 14.35

14. Vigor Extent to which nurses indicated high levels of energy and a willingness to invest effort in work Mean of six items 6 point scale with 6 always/everyday Sample item: At my work, I feel bursting with energy

15. Professional Efficacy Satisfaction with past and present accomplishments and an individual's expectations of continued effectiveness at work Mean of 6 items 6 point scale with 6 every day Sample Item: In my opinion, I am good at my job

16. -24 -23 -20 -27 -14 Correlations between Organizational Support*, Preventive, Coping,Vigor and Professional Efficacy- Canada & China *Lower values indicate higher levels of organizational support Preventive Coping Vigor Professional efficacy Canada China -15

17. Summary A cross-national comparison of nurses’ reactions to SARS permits generalizability of findings Measuring instruments can be validated across samples Results have implications for the study of stress, coping and social support in health care workers dealing with a public health threat Organizational support is a significant resource associated with positive reactions to work and individual coping