The protective role of resilience and social support in the mental health of healthcare professionals during COVID-19.

Contact with close associates and resilience-building among healthcare professionals was a protective factor for psychological well-being in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthcare professionals have been one of the groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The increased workload, changes in the functioning and logistics of workplaces, the high risk of transmission and even the separation from their families have had repercussions on their psychological well-being.

In the study lead by Esther Ortiz-Calvo, from the University of Malaga, "The role of social support and resilience in the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers in Spain", which was part of the COVID-19 HEalth care wOrkErSs (HEROES) study, they have analyzed the appearance of depressive symptoms, psychological distress and thoughts of death in this population during the first wave of the pandemic in Spain and its relationship with self-perceived social support and resilience.

Interviews were conducted with a total of 2372 healthcare workers in Madrid, Andalucia and Murcia between April 24 and June 22, 2020, to carry out this research.

Their results showed that frontline healthcare workers had more thoughts of death along with greater presence of depressive symptoms and psychological distress. On the other hand, women had worse psychological well-being along with a higher frequency of thoughts of death.

Thoughts of death, depressive symptoms, and psychological distress were inversely related to respondents' self-perceived resilience and social support. Thus, the importance of promoting these two factors for greater psychological well-being is evident.

Ensuring that health professionals can maintain contact with their loved ones and provide them with strategies that facilitate greater adaptation to possible adversities seems to be essential for the development of future prevention and intervention plans for this population with regard to their mental health.

Reference to original paper: Ortiz-Calvo, E., Martínez-Alés, G., Mediavilla, R., González-Gómez, E., Fernández-Jiménez, E., Bravo-Ortiz, M. F., Moreno-Küstner, B., & COVID-19 HEalth caRe wOrkErS – Spain (HEROES-SPA) Group (2022). The role of social support and resilience in the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers in Spain. J Psychiatr Res, 148, 181–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.12.030