Nurses’ resilience and self-care in the era of the covid-19 pandemic: a pilot study

Introduction: During the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, frontline health personnel was faced with unprecedented working conditions. The need to adapt to rapidly changing healthcare protocols and changes in the workplace compromised the mental resilience of healthcare professionals. In this psychologically damaging situation for workers, the concept of self-care is of special importance. Objective: To investigate the relationship between resilience, self-care, self-compassion and stress of the nursing staff working in a tertiary hospital in Northern Greece and to identify the factors that predict the increasement of resilience. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out, in a convenience sample of 101 nurses working in a tertiary hospital in Northern Greece. Participants were called to fill in a battery of questionnaires that included: a) demographic-professional characteristics questions b) the Brief Resilience Scale, c) the Self-Compassion Scale, d) the Stress Scale – the Perceived Stress Scale, and e) the Self-care determination scale. Results: Participants showed moderate levels of stress and self-compassion and above average -moderate resilience. Regarding self-care, the majority presented higher values in social and professional dimension compared to the physical one. Resilience was negatively correlated with stress (p<0.001) and positively correlated with self-care (p<0.001) and self-compassion (p=0.001). Stress, self-care, and higher educational level (having a master’s degree and/or doctorate) predicted the 28.8% of the variance in resilience. Self-care enhancement interventions are suggested to to further enhance health professionals’ resilience, thus reduce stress of nursing staff working in highly demanding environments, including secondary care service