Mediating Role of Self-efficacy in the Relationship of Social Support and Resilience in Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: During the COVID-19 epidemic, the mental status of nurses and other healthcare workers was strongly influenced by environmental conditions.  Objective: This study aimed to determine the association between social support and resilience with the mediating role of self-efficacy in nurses working in public hospitals. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 220 nurses working in the educational and medical centers of Rasht City, Iran, in 2021 were recruited by simple random sampling. The general self-efficacy scale, multidimensional scale of perceived social support questionnaire, and Connor and Davidson resilience scale were used to collect data. The Pearson correlation coefficient test was used to investigate the linear relationship of the variables. To evaluate the fit of the proposed model, the chi-square test, degrees of freedom, goodness of fit index, Tucker-Lewis index, comparative fit index, and root mean square error of approximation were calculated. Bootstrap test was used to investigate the role of self-efficacy in the middle of social support and resilience and to assess the direct effects of variables. Results: The results showed that 201 women (91.4%) and 19 men (8.6%), with a mean age of 36±8.43 years, participated in this study. Moreover, 25.5% and 74.5% of participants worked in COVID-19 or non-COVID-19 wards, respectively. Data analysis using the Bootstrap test showed that self-efficacy mediated between social support and resilience (P=0.001). Also, the study findings have shown that the direct effects of social support on resilience are significant, with a path coefficient of 0.203 (P=0.004), so when social support increases, resilience increases, too. Also, in this research, the direct path of self-efficacy on resilience was significant with a path coefficient of 0.595 (P=0.001), so when self-efficacy increases, resilience increases, too. Conclusions: Findings of this study have shown that nurses’ self-efficacy serves as a mediator in the relationship between social support and productivity. Empirical evidence suggests that individuals who receive greater social support exhibit heightened levels of self-efficacy.