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

Jonas Schmuck, Nina Hiebel, Milena Kriegsmann-Rabe, Juliane Schneider, Julia-Katharina Matthias, Yesim Erim, Eva Morawa, Lucia Jerg-Bretzke, Petra Beschoner, Christian Albus, Kerstin Weidner, Lukas Radbruch, Eberhard Hauschildt and Franziska Geiser
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Jonas Schmuck: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
Nina Hiebel: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
Milena Kriegsmann-Rabe: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
Juliane Schneider: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
Julia-Katharina Matthias: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
Yesim Erim: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), 91054 Erlangen, Germany
Eva Morawa: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), 91054 Erlangen, Germany
Lucia Jerg-Bretzke: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Ulm University Medical Center, University Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Petra Beschoner: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Ulm University Medical Center, University Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Christian Albus: Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, 50923 Cologne, Germany
Kerstin Weidner: Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Lukas Radbruch: Department of Palliative Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
Eberhard Hauschildt: Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Franziska Geiser: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 11, 1-15

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.

Keywords: resilience; demographics; stress; COVID-19; health care; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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