Sociodemographic and work-related factors associated with psychological resilience in South African healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundPsychological resilience facilitates adaptation in stressful environments and is an important personal characteristic that enables workers to navigate occupational challenges. Few studies have evaluated the factors associated with psychological resilience in healthcare workers.ObjectivesTo determine the prevalence and factors associated with psychological resilience in a group of South African medical doctors and ambulance personnel.Materials and methodsThis analytical cross-sectional study used secondary data obtained from two studies conducted among healthcare workers in 2019 and 2022. Self-reported factors associated with resilience, as measured by the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10 (CD-RISC-10), were evaluated. R statistical software was used for analysing the data and performing statistical tests.ResultsA total of 647 healthcare workers were included in the study, of which 259 were doctors and 388 were ambulance personnel. Resilience scores were low overall (27.6 +/- 6.6) but higher for ambulance personnel (28.0 +/- 6.9) than for doctors (27.1 +/- 6.0) (p = 0.006). Female gender (OR 1.94, 95%CI 1.03-3.72, p = 0.043), job category (OR 6.94 95%CI 1.22-60.50, p = 0.044) and overtime work (OR 13.88, 95%CI 1.61-368.00, p = 0.044) significantly increased the odds of low resilience for doctors. Conversely, salary (OR 0.13, 95%CI 0.02-0.64, p = 0.024) and current smoking status (OR 0.16, 95%CI 0.02-0.66, p = 0.027) significantly reduced the odds of low resilience amongst doctors. In addition, only previous alcohol use significantly reduced the odds of low resilience for ambulance personnel (OR 0.44, 95%CI 0.20-0.94, p = 0.038) and overall sample (OR 0.52, 95%CI 0.29-0.91, p = 0.024).ConclusionsResilience was relatively low in this group of South African healthcare workers. The strong association between low resilience and individual and workplace factors provides avenues for early intervention and building resilience among healthcare workers.