Individual Stress Burden and Mental Health in Health Care Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Moderating and Mediating Effects of Resilience

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Jonas Schmuck - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Nina Hiebel - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Milena Kriegsmann-Rabe - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Juliane Schneider - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Julia-Katharina Matthias - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Yesim Erim - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Eva Morawa - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Lucia Jerg-Bretzke - , Ulm University (Author)
  • Petra Beschoner - , Ulm University (Author)
  • Christian Albus - , University of Cologne (Author)
  • Kerstin Weidner - , Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital) (Author)
  • Lukas Radbruch - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Eberhard Hauschildt - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Franziska Geiser - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic generated a significant burden on the German health care system, affecting the mental health of health care workers (HCW) in particular. Resilience may serve as an essential protective factor for individuals' well-being. Objective: Our objective was to identify demographic and work-related correlates of individual resilience and to investigate the association between pandemic-related stress, resilience and mental health using different resilience models. Methods: Our sample comprised 1034 German HCW in different medical professions who completed an online survey from 20 April to 1 July 2020. Resilience was assessed using the Resilience Scale-5 (RS-5). The pandemic-related self-reported stress burden was captured by a single item, while depression and anxiety symptoms were measured with the PHQ-2 and GAD-2, respectively. Additionally, various sociodemographic and work-related factors were assessed. Results: Overall, we found high levels of resilience in the sample compared to a German sample before the pandemic, which were significantly associated only with the older age of participants and having children in both univariate and multivariate analyses. Regarding mechanisms of resilience, moderation analysis revealed that low individual resilience and high pandemic-related stress burden independently contributed to both anxiety and depression symptoms while resilience additionally moderated the relationship between stress burden and anxiety symptoms. The link between self-reported stress burden and mental health symptoms was also partially mediated by individual resilience. Conclusion: Taken together, the findings based on the present sample during the COVID-19 pandemic suggest that resilience plays a central role in the mental health of healthcare workers and that resilience-building interventions should be expanded, especially with a focus on younger employees.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number6545
Number of pages15
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume19 (2022)
Issue number11
Publication statusPublished - 27 May 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC9180092
Scopus 85130938992
unpaywall 10.3390/ijerph19116545
Mendeley c3611261-2c5c-3cf9-af9e-ca97c1f70be7

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • Anxiety/diagnosis, COVID-19/epidemiology, Child, Depression/diagnosis, Health Personnel/psychology, Humans, Mental Health, Pandemics, Resilience, Psychological, SARS-CoV-2, stress, mental health, COVID-19, resilience, health care, demographics

Library keywords