Predictors of resilience in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study comparing the first and second waves

Abstract

Few studies have investigated the effects of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 on health professionals, especially nurses, from the point of view of the protective factors of mental health. The aim of this study was to assess the level of resilience in healthcare workers, to determine whether there were differences between two moments of the pandemic. Applying a longitudinal study, participants (N = 590) from healthcare workers completed surveys in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the second wave. Socio-demographic and psychosocial variables such as resilience, emotional intelligence, optimism, self-efficacy, anxiety, and depression are used. There were differences between the two waves in all protective and risk variables except anxiety. In the first wave, there were three socio-demographic and psychosocial variables that explained 67.1% of the variance in resilience. In the first wave, three sociodemographic and psychosocial variables explained 67.1% of the variance in resilience in healthcare professionals. The enhancement of specific protective variables in healthcare professionals exposed to situations of high emotional stress can minimise the negative impact of the situation and promote more resilient responses in this professional group as a result.