Experiential COVID-19 factors predicting resilience among Spanish adults

Abstract

Background: The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has meant for spanish citizens a constant adaptation to health measures in order to try to stop transmission of the virus. During this adaptation process, different psychosocial aspects have caused consequences for people?s mental health to a greater or lesser extent. Makes sense of an emotional torrent who has gone through fear, anxiety, loneliness and anger. The interaction between perception and reality has given rise to situations where loneliness and social isolation have been imposed and lived with a load of emotional discomfort. In others, social isolation and measures to stop the pandemic have been accepted as a protection system and has been experienced since serenity and the feeling of self-protection fostering individual resilience. Studying the predictors of resilience is going to be key since it is the ideal antidote to stop the appearance of mental disorders associated with the pandemic (such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, social phobia, cleaning obsessions, and generalized anxiety disorder). The objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between resilience and experiential COVID-19 factors.

Methods: Sample was comprised of Spanish adults (n = 1000; age 18-79 [mean =40.43],793 female, 201 male, and 2 non binary sex). These people participating in an online study focused on the impact of COVID-19 experiences. The research has been cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational design. The instrument created for this research was a specific online questionnaire, including the "Scale of resilience" (RS, Wagnild & Young, 1993, Spanish version, Sánchez-Teruel, et al., 2015). That questionnaire has been administered during the months of April 2022 to July 2022.

Results: The results obtained show how people who have been able to face the pandemic in a responsive and adaptive way have high resilience. Specifically, those participants that accepting the use of masks, vaccinations and confinement obtained high resilience.

Conclusions: Using public funding and allocating research to the development of programs to promote resilience, adaptative beliefs and prosocial behaviors becomes basic to live in a world in constant change.

Keywords: COVID-19; Following mask recommendations; Resilience; Vaccine obligation and perception of psychological health.