COVID-19: Trauma, Resilience and Posttraumatic Reconnection - A Mixed Method Study in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted people’s mental health around the globe. Symptoms of trauma have increased drastically due to a perceived lack of control over the COVID-19 crisis, expectations of death or infection, and constant exposure to traumatic news. Resilience is defined as a person’s use of coping skills to cope with traumatic events. The present research aimed to investigate the impact of resilience on COVID-19 trauma. An explanatory sequential design with mixed methods and two phases of research was employed.The first phase involved the use of the Arabic version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) to measure resilience among adults. The total sample size was 778 participants. T tests and correlation analysis were used to analyze the participants’ questionnaire responses. The results showed a significant difference in resilience between male and female participants. Additionally, educational level and familial support were correlated with resilience.The second phase involved the administration of open-ended questions to gather in-depth information from 17 participants who answered the CD-RISC. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used in the coding process to analyze the qualitative data. The findings indicated that the COVID-19 crisis increased trauma symptoms and that participants exhibited cognitive, emotional, and behavioral resilience in coping with the pandemic. Moreover, a significant finding was that participants engaged in posttraumatic reconnection that emphasized reconnection with the self and others.