Associations between COVID-19 mental impact and distress, resilience, burnout and well-being in Hong Kong community adults: A structural equation model

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic poses substantial risks to individuals’ physical and mental health and prolonged psychological responses to the pandemic could lead to emotional exhaustion. The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of COVID-19 related mental impact and distress in the relationship among resilience, burnout, and well-being. The present study recruited 500 community adults (mean age = 38.8 years, SD = 13.9; 76% females) in Hong Kong via an online survey in autumn 2021. The participants completed the Mental Impact and Distress Scale: COVID-19 (MIDc) and validated measures on resilience, burnout, and well-being. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the MIDc. Direct and indirect effects of resilience on burnout and well-being via MIDc were examined via structural equation modeling. Confirmatory factor analysis supported factorial validity for the three factors of MIDc (situational impact, anticipation, and modulation). Resilience showed negative effects on the MIDc (β = −0.69, SE = 0.04, p < 0.01) and burnout (β = 0.23, SE = 0.06, p < 0.01). Burnout was positively associated with MIDc (β = 0.63, SE = 0.06, p < 0.01) and negatively associated with well-being (β = −0.47, SE = 0.07, p < 0.01). Resilience showed a significant and positive indirect effect (αβγ = 0.203, 95% CI = 0.131 to 0.285) on well-being via MIDc and burnout. The results support a potential mediating role for MIDc as psychological responses in the relationship among resilience and burnout and well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Indirect effects
• Mediation
• COVID-19
• Pandemic
• Psychological distress

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all respondents for their participation in the online survey. We would like to thank Miss Amy Choi for her efforts in the promotion and coordination of the online survey.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of Hong Kong (Reference number = EA210291) and University of Macau (Reference number = SSHRE20-APP020-FSS). Informed consents were obtained from all of the study participants.

Data availability statement

The raw data analysed in the present study is available in the form of a supplementary datafile.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Ted Fong: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing – original draft;

Kay Chang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing – original draft; Project administration;

Hao Fong Sit: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Writing – original draft;

Rainbow Ho: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Supervision

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2023.2229235

Additional information

Funding

This study was not supported by any funding.