The mediating role of resilience between perceived social support and sense of security in medical staff following the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Qingxia He; Peng Xu; Huajun Wang; Shibin Wang; Lulu Yang; Zhiqiong Ba; Huigen Huang

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1096082

The mediating role of resilience between perceived social support and sense of security in medical staff following the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 7:14:1096082. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1096082. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Qingxia He¹, Peng Xu², Huajun Wang², Shibin Wang¹, Lulu Yang¹, Zhiqiong Ba², Huigen Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Mental Health Center, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Nursing Department, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic not only posed a serious threat to public life and health but also had a serious impact on people's mental health, especially that of medical staff. Perceived social support is an important factor in one's sense of security.

Objective: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the goal is to explore the potential mediating role of resilience in the relationship between perceived social support and the sense of security of Chinese medical personnel.

Methods: The multi-stage proportionally stratified convenience sampling method was adopted to select 4,076 medical professionals from 29 hospitals in Guangdong Province between September 2020 and October 2020. The Sense of Security Scale for Medical Staff, the Chinese version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Perceived Social Support Scale were employed in this study. For statistical analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), the SPSS 23.0 and Amos 24.0 software packages were used. Regression analysis was used to select the control variables to be included in the SEM. SEM analysis was conducted to verify the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between perceived social support and a sense of security.

Results: Pearson's correlation analysis showed that perceived social support and resilience were positively associated with a sense of security (correlation coefficients range from 0.350 to 0.607, P < 0.01), and perceived social support (correlation coefficients range from 0.398 to 0.589, P < 0.01) was positively associated with resilience. Structural equation modeling revealed that resilience played a partial mediating role in the association between perceived social support and a sense of security (60.3% of the effect of perceived social support on security was direct, and 39.7% of the effect was mediated by resilience).

Conclusions: Hospital managers should make efforts to develop resilience. Interventions based on resilience should be developed to enhance the perception of social support and strengthen one's sense of security.

Keywords: COVID-19; mediating effect; medical staff; perceived social support; resilience; sense of security; structural equation model.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation under Grant No. 2021A1515012187 and the Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences) Project under Grant No. 7197040908.