Relationships among character strengths, perceived social support and psychological resilience in Healthcare Professionals

The investigation of the relationship between character strengths and psychological resilience, as well as the perceived social support within general hospital workers, is a key issue in the field of Positive Psychology, which has not been answered regarding the Greek reality. Positive character traits and virtues have been shown to contribute to enhancing psychological resilience, while support from family, friends and significant others appears to be an important protective factor. In light of the pressure on the health care system due to the coronavirus pandemic, this research paper sought to examine the interaction of character strengths with levels of resilience, and the contribution of socialsupport in a period of coping with adversity. The research sample consisted of 100 employees of the Rhodes General Hospital, who completed a paper or electronic selfreport questionnaire that included questions on demographic data, as well as scales measuring character strengths (VIA-114GR), psychological resilience (CD-RISC) and perceived social support (MSPSS). The findings indicated significant positivecorrelations between the strengths of hope (r=.724, p<0.01), social intelligence (r=.714, p<0.01) and teamwork (r=.688, p<0.01), as well as between psychological resilience and perceived social support. The character strengths of love and gratitude showed the highest positive correlation with the perceived social support factor, while years of service did not appear to influence employees' levels of psychological resilience. The present study contributes to enriching the international and domestic literature. At the same time, it highlights the need for healthcare organizations to harness these factors, which can create supportive environments that enhance the wellbeing and resilience of their workforce and, by extension, more effective patient care.