86. The cultivation of psychological resilience of international Chinese teachers under the risk of bipolar disorder

Abstract Background With the development of international Chinese education and the increasingly prominent global mental health issues, the psychological problems faced by the international Chinese teacher community have received widespread attention. This profession combines cross-cultural adaptation, high emotional labor, occupational isolation, and multiple role expectations, creating a unique high-pressure environment. As a complex disease that combines manic and depressive episodes, early identification and intervention of bipolar disorder are crucial. Psychological resilience, as a core ability for individuals to actively adapt and maintain mental health in the face of significant pressure, has become the key to coping with this risk. Therefore, the study delved into the internal structure and external influencing factors of the psychological resilience of international Chinese language teachers under the risk of bipolar disorder, and constructed a targeted psychological resilience training model aimed at improving the psychological health level and professional sustainable development ability of this group. Methods This study used a mixed research method and purposive sampling to select 150 international Chinese language teachers who teach in different countries and have been screened by professional scales to show subclinical symptoms or high-risk factors of bipolar disorder as the research subjects. The research methods include: (1) In depth interviews: conducting semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of teachers' sources of stress, emotional fluctuations, coping strategies, and perceptions of their own psychological states during overseas teaching. (2) Questionnaire survey: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 150 international Chinese teachers using the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale, Social Support Rating Scale, Occupational Stress Scale, and Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale to quantitatively analyze the correlation between psychological resilience, social support, occupational stress, and bipolar risk. (3) Case analysis: Conduct a 6-month follow-up study on 5 teachers with typical emotional fluctuations. All interview data were encoded and extracted using thematic analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS software for descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. Results Correlation analysis shows that the total occupational stress score of international Chinese teachers is significantly positively correlated with the risk score of bipolar disorder (r = 0.48, p<.01), and cross-cultural adaptation difficulty is also significantly positively correlated with the risk score (r = 0.52, p<.01). In contrast, the total score of psychological resilience was significantly negatively correlated with the bipolar risk score (r = -0.61, p<.01), which preliminarily confirms that psychological resilience is a key protective factor. Regression analysis shows that social support (β = 0.35, p<.001) and emotional regulation ability (β = 0.32, p<.001) are the strongest variables for predicting psychological resilience. This means that enhancing social support and emotional regulation abilities can most effectively strengthen teachers' psychological resilience. Discussion The research results indicate that cultivating high-level psychological resilience is an effective way to alleviate the risk of bipolar disorder and promote the mental health of international Chinese language teachers. Future research will focus on conducting empirical intervention studies on this cultivation model, testing its long-term effects, and further exploring the applicability and adjustment strategies of the model in different cultural contexts. Funding No. L22BYY006.