A cross-sectional study investigating optimism and mental resilience among Greek healthcare professionals
Georgia-Nektaria Porfyri1, Konstantina Karanasi2, Theocharis Konstantinidis I3,4
1Department of Psychiatry, General Hospital of Argolida, Argos, Greece. geoporfyri@hotmail.fr.
Background:
Healthcare professionals experience high levels of burnout and chronic stress, which further jeopardizes their optimism and mental resilience.
Methods:
The study involved 175 health professionals (46 doctors, 56 nurses, 27 nursing assistants, 23 ward assistants, 23 paramedical workers) of the Sismanogleio General Hospital of Athens, aged 26-65. Participants were administered an electronic questionnaire, which included socio-demographic data and work-related information, the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISK-25). The data analysis was conducted using SPSS, with Descriptive and Inferential Statistics methods.
Results:
The results reveal moderate levels of mental resilience (Mean=65.23, Std. Dev.=15.44) and moderate levels of optimism (Mean=12.75, Std. Dev.=2.89) among participants. Health professionals' levels of optimism are positively correlated with their levels of mental resilience (rho = 0.208, p = 0.006). The levels of optimism and mental resilience do not differ according to gender, marital status, or years of work experience (p = 0.612, p = 0.458, p = 0.214, respectively), but differ according to age (p < 0.001). Health professionals aged 60+ show the highest levels of mental resilience, while paramedical workers demonstrate greater optimism compared to physicians.
Conclusions:
The development of targeted training and support programs aimed at strengthening optimism and mental resilience among healthcare professionals may be beneficial.
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