Resilience in Medical Doctors within the Areas of the Southern Thailand Insurgency

Objective: This study aimed to examine resilience and its’ associated factors among medical doctors who worked at hospitals, either in the restive areas of the southern Thailand insurgency, or non-restive areas of nearby provinces. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted for all medical doctors who worked at the hospitals located in the lower southern part of Thailand from January to April 2018. All of the participants completed the personal information and Thai resilience questionnaires (Thai-RQ) by themselves. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, whilst the factors associated with resilience were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results: From 245 medical doctors, most were female (58.0%), single (50.2%) and worked more than 40 hours per week (30.2%). The average resilience scores were at a normal level (62.3 ± 7.8) as well as most of them being (67.3%). The highest section of resilience was coping skills, with the lowest being emotional stability. There were no differences in resilience between those who worked in restive areas, or those who worked in non-restive areas of the southern Thailand insurgency. Perceived sleep/rest quality and family relationships were significantly associated with their resilience. Conclusion: Most of the medical doctors, who worked at hospitals either in the restive or non-restive areas of the southern Thailand insurgency, were at normal levels of resilience. No difference of resilience was found between these two areas. The factors associated with resilience were perception of sleep/rest quality and family relationships.