Empathy and Post-Traumatic Growth among Chinese Community Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Roles of Self-Disclosure and Social Support

Jinhua Dou, Chang Liu, Ruoyu Xiong, Hongguang Zhou, Guohua Lu () and Liping Jia ()
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Jinhua Dou: School of Public Health, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 261053, China
Chang Liu: School of Psychology, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 261053, China
Ruoyu Xiong: School of Psychology, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 261053, China
Hongguang Zhou: Second Department of Children and Adolescents’ Psychological Behavior, Shandong Mental Health Center, Jinan 250014, China
Guohua Lu: School of Psychology, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 261053, China
Liping Jia: School of Psychology, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 261053, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 23, 1-12

Abstract: Given the prolonged nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and its long-term psychological impacts, this study aimed to explore how empathy leads to post-traumatic growth (PTG) among Chinese community workers. Guided by the revised PTG model, this study identified the relation between empathy and PTG using a multiple mediation model that included self-disclosure and social support as hypothesized mediators. This study utilized data from 414 Chinese adults aged 20 years or older who completed an online survey during the pandemic. Self-disclosure and social support were measured as mediating variables. The study variables were positively correlated with PTG. Empathy was positively correlated with self-disclosure and social support. After controlling for demographic covariates, the results indicated that self-disclosure and social support mediated the link between empathy and PTG in both parallel and sequential fashion. Empathy, self-disclosure, and social support played important roles in the growth of Chinese community workers. The present findings have been useful in increasing our understanding, policy programs, and interventions by governments or regional bodies to ameliorate community workers’ PTG.

Keywords: empathy; post-traumatic growth; self-disclosure; social support; community workers; COVID-19; China (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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