The Mental Health and Job Burnout of Nurses During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Resilience as a Mediator

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had adverse psychological, social, and economic consequences around the world. Nurses and physicians have been more negatively affected by this pandemic as compared to other occupational groups. Objectives: The present survey aimed to investigate the job burnout and mental health of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between mental health and job burnout. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in two public hospitals of Kashan, Iran from March 2020 until the end of June 2020. A total of 108 nurses participated in this study. The assessment tools included the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), nurses' job Burnout Questionnaire, and Resilience Scale. Hierarchical linear regression models were used to evaluate the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between job burnout and mental health. Results: The results showed that 61.1% of the participants had mild to severe mental health problems, while 13% reported no job burnout. In terms of resilience, most participants (88.9%) reported moderate resilience. Based on the results, resilience partially mediated the effect of mental health problems on job burnout. The present findings highlighted the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between job burnout and mental health problems among nurses. Conclusions: The present findings suggested that evaluation of resilience resources and traits might be helpful in predicting individuals at risk of psychological problems and job burnout.