Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is prevalent around the world, and many studies suggest that depression among medical staff is on the rise during the pandemic. This study aims to assess the relationship between depressive symptoms and individual resilience among military hospital personnel responsible for treating patients with COVID-19. Individuals from the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital who responded to the questionnaires from 8 February to 15 February 2022 participated in this study. Resilience and depressive symptoms were measured via the Korean Resilience Quotient Test-53 and Patient Health Questionnaire-9, respectively. We employed multivariable logistic regression analysis to estimate Odds Ratios (ORs) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) of depressive symptoms. Among 181 participants, the individuals with depressive symptoms and high resilience accounted for 8.8% and 61.9%, respectively. Significant correlations between depressive symptoms and both the low resilience and low resilience positivity groups were found (adjusted OR 10.30 [95% CI 1.74-61.01] and OR 13.90 [95% CI 1.93-100.02], respectively). This study notes a significant inverse relationship between depressive symptoms and resilience even after adjusting for demographic and occupational characteristics. To overcome depressive symptoms among hospital personnel, it is necessary to seek ways to improve individual resilience, especially positivity.
Keywords: COVID-19; depression; medical staff; mental health; military hospital; resilience.