Assessing Workplace Resilience and Stress Management in Healthcare Professionals during Pandemic Response

Thesis Abstract

The unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly impacted healthcare professionals, exposing them to heightened stress levels and demanding increased resilience to sustain effective service delivery. This study aims to assess the levels of workplace resilience and the effectiveness of stress management strategies among healthcare professionals engaged in pandemic response within a major metropolitan hospital. The specific objectives include identifying key factors influencing resilience, evaluating the relationship between resilience and perceived stress, and examining the role of organizational support in facilitating coping mechanisms. Adopting a concurrent mixed-methods research design, the study integrates quantitative data collection through a structured survey administered to a stratified random sample of 300 healthcare professionals, including nurses, physicians, and support staff, and qualitative insights obtained via semi-structured interviews with 20 selected participants. The survey instrument, developed based on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), was validated through expert review and pilot testing, ensuring high content validity and a Cronbach's alpha coefficient exceeding 0.85 for both scales. Qualitative interviews were transcribed and analyzed thematically, guided by Antonovsky’s Salutogenic Model and Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources Theory to frame resilience and stress coping processes. Quantitative data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, multiple regression analysis, and ANOVA to identify determinants of resilience and their association with stress levels across demographic and professional variables. Thematic analysis of qualitative data will employ NVivo software to extract core themes related to organizational support, personal coping strategies, and perceived barriers to resilience, providing nuanced contextual understanding. Expected findings include a significant positive correlation between resilience scores and effective stress management, with organizational support identified as a critical moderating factor. Variations in resilience and stress levels based on profession, years of experience, and work shift patterns are anticipated. The integration of quantitative and qualitative results aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the resilience mechanisms employed by healthcare workers and the organizational factors facilitating or hindering effective stress management during crises. This research will contribute to the existing body of knowledge by delineating contextual factors influencing resilience and stress among healthcare providers during pandemics, offering empirical evidence grounded in a specific institutional setting. The findings are expected to inform targeted interventions, including tailored resilience-building programs and organizational policy enhancements, to bolster healthcare workers’ capacity to endure future health crises. The study concludes that fostering organizational support, promoting adaptive coping strategies, and implementing resilient workplace policies are essential for sustaining healthcare workforce well-being amid ongoing and future pandemics. Recommendations include the integration of resilience training in professional development curricula, establishing peer-support networks, and ensuring ongoing mental health resources. Future research avenues may involve longitudinal studies to track resilience trajectories over time or intervention-based studies to test the efficacy of specific resilience enhancement programs within healthcare settings, thereby advancing strategic responses to workforce stress management in health crises.