Bouncing Beyond Adversity in Oncology: An Exploratory Study of the Association Between Professional Team Resilience at Work and Work-Related Sense of Coherence.

Abstract

Team resilience at work (TR@W) is an important resource for bouncing beyond adverse situations. Adopting a health-promoting salutogenic approach, this cross-sectional study explores whether oncology team resilience, which is significantly associated with work-related sense of coherence (Work-SoC), and examines the roles of team member characteristics, quality of work life, and perceived impact of COVID-19. Team members (n = 189) from four oncology settings in Québec (Canada) completed self-administered e-questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the best-fitting model and significant relationships among study variables. The results showed a significant positive reciprocal relationship between TR@W and Work-SoC (R = 0.20) and between Work-SoC and TR@W (R = 0.39). These two variables were influenced by gender, gender roles, age, or COVID-19. The resulting model confirms our initial assumption that a higher level of TR@W is significantly associated with a more positive Work-SoC. Our findings provide new insights into subscale items perceived positively by oncology team members, such as perseverance, connectedness, and capability; and identify areas, such as self-care, within the team that may require greater attention to bounce beyond adversity. They also suggest there may be different levels (individual, team, and organizational) of resources under the health salutogenic umbrella.