The effect of social support on work stress in health workers during the pandemic: The mediation role of resilience

Abstract

Stressful experiences commonly increase among health workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. From this perspective, this study primarily aimed to examine the mediating role of resilience in the effect of perceived social support on work stress among health workers. The sample of the study consisted of 402 health workers. In the research, the "General Work Stress Scale," "Brief Resiliency Scale," and "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support" were used. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between work stress and social support (r = -0.223, p = 0.00) and resilience (r = -0.432, p = 0.00), and a statistically significant positive correlation between social support and resilience (r = 0.226, p = 0.00). Resilience mediates the relationship between perception of social support and work stress. When planning effective intervention strategies, it will be critical to reduce the risk of adverse mental health outcomes in health workers, who are fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, by increasing social support and resilience and reducing work stress.