Burnout and health among critical care professionals: The mediational role of resilience.

Objectives: To analyse the mediational role of resilience in relationships between burnout and health in critical care professionals; to determine relationships among resilience level, three burnout dimensions, and physical/mental health; and to establish demographic differences in psychological variables evaluated.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants/setting: A total of 52 critical care professionals, mainly nurses, were recruited from an intensive care unit of Madrid (Spain).

Method: All participants were assessed with the questionnaires 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, and Short Form-12 Health Survey.

Results: No demographic differences were found. Three burnout dimensions were negatively associated with mental health and resilience. Mediational analyses revealed resilience mediated 1) the relationships between emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation with mental health (partial mediations) and 2) the relationship between personal accomplishment and mental health (total mediation).

Conclusions: Resilience minimises and buffers the impact of negative outcomes of workplace stress on mental health of critical care professionals. As a result, resilience prevents the occurrence of burnout syndrome. Resilience improves not only their mental health, but also their ability to practice effectively. It is therefore imperative to develop resilience programs for critical care nurses in nursing schools, universities and health centres.