ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Hardiness and personal resources of red zone staff: psychological analysis

Yasko BA1,2, Kazarin BV1, Gorodin VN1, Chugunova NA3, Pokul LV3,4, Skripnichenko LS2, Skorobogatov VV2
About authors

1 Kuban State Medical University, Krasnodar, Russia

2 Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russia

3 Novorossiysk Clinical Center of FMBA, Novorossiysk, Russia

4 Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed: Bella A. Yasko
Stavropolskaya, 149, 350040, Krasnodar; ur.xednay@alebahs

About paper

Acknowledgement: the authors thank Zotov SV, the Сhief Medical Officer of the Specialized Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases for his assistance in organizing the study and Ostroushko MG, the Head of the HR Department of the Regional Clinical Hospital № 2, for her assistance in organizing psychological assessment.

Author contribution: Yasko BA proposed the idea and concept of the, systematized empirical data, discussed the results, and wrote the manuscript; Kazarin BV proposed the concept of the empirical study, provided tools to accumulate survey data; Gorodin VN recruited study participants, organized psychological assessment, propsoed the theoretical and methodological basis of the study; Chugunova NA carried out data acquisition and analyzed the obtained data; Pokul LV participated in the discussion of the study design and wrote the draft version of the manuscript; Skripnichenko LS provided rationale for the study and participated in the discussion about delivering psychological counselling to red zone staff; Skorobogatov VV conducted statistical analysis.

Compliance with ethical standards: the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kuban State Medical University (Protocol № 12 dated June 29, 2021 and Protocol № 14 dated June 25, 2021); informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

Received: 2021-08-12 Accepted: 2021-08-26 Published online: 2021-08-30
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In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is becoming increasingly important to address the problem of resourcefulness in the healthcare personnel of COVID-19 red zones. The aim of this study was to assess hardiness and the state of vital resources in physicians continuously working in red zones and to test a hypothesis that that long-term work in a COVID-19 red zone adversely affects the resourcefulness, reducing resistance to stress. Group 1 (n = 94) consisted of physicians with a history of employment in a COVID-19 red zone between May 2020 and June 2021; group 2 (n = 77) comprised physicians who were not involved in managing COVID-19 patients. The tests showed that hardiness and its components (commitment, control and challenge) were at high levels in group 2 (59.7%; 67.5%; 61.0%; 20.9%, respectively). The index of resourcefulness (RI; 1.24) reflected the prevalence of personal gains over losses in group 1 over the past year. In this group, there were no sex differences in the results. By contrast, hardiness was significantly reduced in 31.9% of the respondents in group 1 (red zone). Working in the red zone had a devastating effect on all hardiness components: the ratio of the percentages of high to low values was 8.5/27.7 for commitment, 9/6/34.0 for control and 10.6/35.1 for challenge. RI was reduced (0.77). The most pronounced loss of resources was observed in female physicians. The study found a significant mutual impact between challenge and the state of personality resources in red zone staff, which may indicate activation of proactive coping strategies and the acceptance of new professional experience.

Keywords: COVID-19, mental health, pandemic, pandemic consciousness, hardiness, personal resources

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