Experience and Resilience of Japanese Public Health Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Impact on Burnout

Abstract

Japanese public health nurses (PHNs) at public health centers (PHCs) have played critical roles in infection prevention and control during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine the actual pandemic-related experiences of PHNs and the relation between their experiences, individual resilience, two components of organizational resilience (system and human resilience), and burnout. An analysis of the responses of 351 PHNs revealed that mid-level PHNs scored higher in experience and lower in organizational resilience compared with those in other positions. More than 80% of respondents experienced inappropriate staff allocation. Multiple regression revealed that burnout was positively associated with the components of the experience of PHNs and negatively with individual and human resilience. In hierarchical multiple regression with depersonalization as the dependent variable, the sign of system resilience reversed from negative to positive when human resilience was added. The results highlight the need to prepare for future health crises including establishing a system with enough personnel, promoting human resilience such as collaboration among staff members, and burnout prevention measures, especially among mid-level PHNs. The study also described alternative approaches to comprehend system resilience—namely, a suppression variable of human resilience, promotion of depersonalization, and multicollinearity—and the need for further research on organizational resilience.

Working Conditions and Quality of Life in Healthcare: Mediating Roles of Burnout and Engagement, Moderated by Resilience and Self-Efficacy.

“…The moderation of resilience in the relationship between lack of support and burnout is particularly relevant, suggesting that strengthening resilience may be an effective strategy to mitigate the effects of burnout under unfavorable working conditions. This is consistent with research emphasizing resilience as a key factor in adaptation to stressful work environments [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Resilience, understood as the ability to cope with adversity, has been identified as a valuable strength within psychological capital, and its enhancement through specific training and continuous improvement of working conditions are recommendations supported by the literature.…”