PhD Scientific Days 2025

Health Sciences III.

Associations Between Psychological Resilience and Coping Strategies Among Healthcare Professionals Providing End-of-Life Care

Name of the presenter

Domonkos Norbert

Institute/workplace of the presenter

Szegedi Tudományegyetem Egészségtudományi és Szociális Képzési Kar

Authors

Norbert Domonkos MSc¹

1: Szegedi Tudományegyetem Egészségtudományi és Szociális Képzési Kar

Text of the abstract

Introduction: Resilience refers to the set of psychological characteristics that enable an individual to adapt to challenges and maintain emotional stability even under adverse circumstances. Coping strategies play a crucial role in this process and can be either automatically triggered responses or consciously employed techniques that influence reactions to stress. These approaches are particularly significant in healthcare, where complex decision-making situations and significant emotional burdens are common. This is especially true in the context of providing end-of-life care, which can have a long-term negative impact on psychological well-being, professional effectiveness, and the quality of patient care.
Aims: This study aims to examine the associations between resilience and coping strategies, with a particular focus on problem-focused and emotion-focused approaches.
Method: The study was conducted between November 2024 and March 2025, on a sample of 200 healthcare professionals. Psychological resilience was measured using the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), while coping strategies were assessed using the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (MMK). Data analysis was performed using SPSS 28.0 software. The relationships between coping strategies and the total resilience score were examined using a non-parametric correlation procedure.
Results: Among the problem-focused coping strategies, cognitive restructuring exhibited the strongest correlation with resilience (r = 0.561, p < 0.001). A close relationship was also found for problem analysis (r = 0.499, p < 0.001). In contrast, emotion-focused coping strategies demonstrated weaker, inverse correlations, particularly in the case of emotionally driven actions (r = -0.208, p = 0.003). These findings were further confirmed by structural equation modeling.
Conclusion: Higher levels of psychological resilience are associated with the use of goal-oriented, problem-solving coping strategies, whereas emotionally driven behaviors and withdrawal are less characteristic of resilient individuals. These findings underscore the significance of cognitive restructuring and problem-oriented thinking in fostering psychological resilience.
Funding: This research received no external funding.