The Mediating Effects of Psychological Flexibility on Infection Control Nurses’ Mental Well-being in the Post-Pandemic Era

Purpose: This study examined the mediating effects of psychological flexibility on the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism, time pressure, and mental well-being among infection control nurses. Methods: Data were collected from 178 infection control nurses with at least a year's experience via online communities from March 9 to 18, 2024. Descriptive statistics, the independent t-test (Mann-Whitney test), one-way analysis of variance (Scheffé test), Pearson's correlation coefficients, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 29.0. Results: Socially prescribed perfectionism (r=-.48, p<.001) and time pressure (r=-.20, p=.008) showed statistically significant negative correlations with mental well-being, while psychological flexibility exhibited a positive correlation (r=.69, p<.001). Furthermore, psychological flexibility fully mediated the relationships between socially prescribed perfectionism(bootstrapped lower of the confidence interval [LLCI]=-.36, bootstrapped upper of the confidence interval [ULCI]=-.19) and time pressure (bootstrapped LLCI=-.21, bootstrapped ULCI=-.06) with mental well-being. Conclusion: The findings suggest that psychological flexibility can buffer the negative effects of socially prescribed perfectionism and time pressure on infection control nurses' mental well-being, following the end of the pandemic. Increasing psychological flexibility is essential for mitigating mental health challenges and preparing for future infectious disease outbreaks.