Distinct profiles of psychological resilience and associated factors among clinical nurses: a latent profile analysis

Abstract Background Clinical nurses work in high-stress environments over extended periods and are prone to occupational burnout. Identifying psychological resources that can effectively help nurses cope with stress and maintain occupational well-being is crucial for nursing management. Based on the Conservation of Resources Theory, to identify latent classes of psychological resilience among clinical nurses and explore the influencing factors associated with different resilience categories. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among nurses (with ≥ 1 year of clinical nursing experience) recruited through convenience sampling. The latent profile analysis was conducted using the scores of each item of the 10-item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) as the manifest indicators to identify the potential categories of nurses’ psychological resilience. On this basis, single factor analysis and unordered multi-category Logistic regression analysis were used to explore the influencing factors of different category affiliations. Results The median total CD-RISC-10 score among nurses [M (P25, P75)] was 40.00 (32.00, 45.00). Latent profile analysis identified three classes of psychological resilience based on resilience scores: low psychological resilience–vulnerable type (29.51%), moderate psychological resilience–balanced type (44.50%), and high psychological resilience–advantage type (25.99%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that emotional support, instrumental support, turnover intention, and research workload were significantly associated with different categories of psychological resilience among nurses ( P < 0.05). Conclusion The psychological resilience of clinical nurses was at a moderately low level and showed group heterogeneity. Nurses in the low resilience-vulnerable group should be considered the key target population for intervention. Based on the Conservation of Resources Theory, nursing managers should optimize resource supply (enhancing emotional and instrumental support), identify defensive resource protection behaviors (high turnover intention), and promote resource reacquisition (optimizing research task management), thereby implementing stratified interventions for nurses in different psychological resilience categories.