Self-Compassion and COVID-19 Stress in Turkish Healthcare Workers: The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a time when both physical and mental health are affected. Due to the increased workload and crucial strains brought on by the pandemic, healthcare workers (HW) have been disproportionately affected by this period of time. Understanding the stress faced by HW, identifying the elements that impact stress, and making reinforcements in these areas are deemed critical in order to avoid disruption of health services and protect public health. The aim of this research is to measure the COVID-19 stress level in HW and to evaluate its relationship with self-compassion and psychological resilience. The study included 281 HW who volunteered to participate and actively served in pandemic services. The researchers used a sociodemographic information form, the Coronavirus Stress Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, and the Self-Compassion Scale in the study. The data were collected online, and analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS applications. In the second year of the pandemic, HW are still facing the burden of COVID-19. In our observations in this study, we see that COVID-19 stress has a negative relationship with self-compassion and resilience. Self-compassion and resilience account for 20% of COVID-19 stress variation. The connection between self-compassion and COVID-19 stress is partially mediated by resilience. It is important to develop these skills, as psychological resilience and self-compassion skills are effective in maintaining HW' mental health.