The Association between Well-being Behaviors and Resilience in Health Care Workers

Abstract

Engaging in well-being behaviors may promote resilience, which can protect against burnout. This descriptive, correlational analysis utilized baseline data from health care workers enrolled in the Web-based Implementation of the Science for Enhancing Resilience longitudinal study ( N = 2,383). The study aimed to describe the association of (a) types of well-being behaviors (regular exercise, yoga, meditation, spent time with a close friend, vacation) and (b) total number of well-being behaviors with resilience (emotional thriving and emotional recovery), covarying for sociodemographic and professional characteristics. General linear model findings indicated that each well-being behavior was significantly associated with greater emotional thriving, while only exercise and spending time with friends were significantly related to greater emotional recovery. Emotional thriving and emotional recovery were also significantly higher among health care workers reporting more well-being behaviors. Engaging in well-being behaviors may be one part of the solution toward increasing resilience in health care workers that warrants further investigation.