• Guido Veronese, Alessandro Pepe, Wafaa Alzaanin, and Hala Shoman.
• Department of Human Sciences.
• Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2020 Jan 1; 90 (6): 751-759.

AbstractHealth-care workers operating in conflict zones are at severe risk of psychological consequences, given their extended exposure to traumatic events under conditions of stress and violence. This quantitative, cross-sectional study was designed to explore the relationships between personal resources (sources of functioning)-operationalized as sense of coherence, posttraumatic growth, and perceived well-being-psychological distress, and trauma symptoms in a specific population of health workers exposed to war and violence. Palestinian health professionals (N = 181) completed quantitative measures of well-being, posttraumatic growth, sense of coherence, psychological distress, and traumatic response. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The outcomes suggest that sources of psychological functioning consistently play a role in the mental health of different types of health professionals. Health-care workers in an environment characterized by instability and ongoing risk need to protect their own mental health by mobilizing sources of resistance and resilience, such as a sense of coherence, subjective well-being, and growth. We discuss the clinical implications of these findings and offer recommendations for training and supervision. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

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