Mediating Role of Resilience between Social Support and PTSD of Nursing Staff during Public Health Emergency in China: A Structural Equation Model

Objectives: Chinese nurses worked under stressful conditions and faced increased risk of being infected by COVID-19 virus during public health emergency, which leads to plenty of psychological problems among nurses. In this study, we investigated the mediating role of resilience between social support and PTSD of Chinese nursing staff during public health emergency. Methods: We applied 3 inclusion criteria (≥18 years old, possessing adequate writing and reading abilities, working as a nurse in hospital during public health emergency.) and 1 exclusion criterion (history of psychiatric illnesses) to recruit 707 nurses with convenience sampling in China. We utilized a self-reported checklist to complete data collection online. We used Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) to measure PTSD, social support and resilience. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) and a bias-corrected bootstrap method to examine the mediation model. Results: The incidence rate of PTSD was 14.3%. Social support, resilience, and PTSD were significantly correlated. Resilience played a partially mediating role between social support and PTSD. Conclusions: PTSD was still prevalent among nurses with an incidence rate of 14.3% during public health emergency. Low levels of social support may lead to PTSD through the partially mediating effect of resilience among nurses. It was essential for the administration office of the hospital to implement intervention plan on social support and resilience to decrease or prevent PTSD among nurses during public health emergency.