Post-traumatic growth and professional fulfillment among health care workers after the COVID-19 pandemic: a 2-wave...

To examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between post-traumatic growth (PTG) and professional fulfillment among health care workers after the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine whether PTG is associated with subsequent professional fulfillment.

This 2-wave cohort study surveyed health care workers in Japan from March 8 to 31, 2024 (first survey) and from November 19 to December 20, 2024 (second survey). The outcome was professional fulfillment as measured by a subscale of the Professional Fulfillment Index, and the independent variable was PTG as measured by a short form of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. Cross-sectional associations between PTG and professional fulfillment were examined using multivariable linear regression. Longitudinal associations were tested using baseline-adjusted regression models with bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) bootstrap CIs (5000 resamples).

A total of 1346 participants completed the first survey and 528 completed the second survey; 188 completed both. PTG was positively associated with professional fulfillment cross-sectionally in the first survey (B = 0.07; 95% CI, 0.06-0.08; P < .01). In baseline-adjusted longitudinal analysis, PTG in the first survey was associated with subsequent professional fulfillment in the second survey (B = 0.025; 95% BCa CI, 0.001-0.048; P = .048).

PTG was consistently associated with professional fulfillment among health care workers in the post-pandemic period, and higher PTG prospectively associated greater subsequent professional fulfillment. These findings are significant in demonstrating that PTG can be a meaningful focus for promoting professional fulfillment in health care workers after a public health crisis.