Effect of Motivational Messages on Midwives\' Resilience During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Psychological Intervention Study

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a great global health problem. It has also affected mental healthcare providers, especially nurses and midwives. This study was conducted to evaluate the resilience of Iranian midwives and the effectiveness of daily motivational messages through the WhatsApp messenger in improving resilience. Methods: A psychoeducational intervention study with a control group was conducted on 362 midwives who were on duty in Iran during 2021. The samples were selected from the national midwifery Telegram group, and the data were collected through a Google Form. The tools used included the checklist of demographic characteristics and Davidson’s resilience questionnaire, whose validity and reliability have been determined in the Persian version. The Persian version of the Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC) was administered to all participants at baseline and at the end of the study. The intervention group received daily motivational messages via WhatsApp for 43 days. These motivational messages, based on Quranic verses and hadiths, were sent daily. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 16, and included the paired t-test, independent t-test, chi-square test, and Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient tests. Results: There was no significant difference in terms of personal characteristics between the groups at baseline (P>0.05). After the intervention, the resilience score increased significantly in the intervention group (P=0.002). Conclusion: Motivational massaging via social media could be effective in increasing resilience among healthcare workers in stressful conditions, including epidemics.