Mental health trajectories, resilience and psychosocial factors in palliative care workers frequently exposed to death.

Palliative care (PC) professionals are constantly exposed to patients' suffering and death-potentially traumatic events (PTEs) that are in addition to everyday work and personal stressors. The long-term mental health effects of these experiences are unclear. Additionally, psychosocial factors such as social support, autonomy, psychological demands, empathy, psychological flexibility, mindfulness, and self-compassion have not been studied over the long term among these professionals. This six-month longitudinal study aimed to chart mental health trajectories in palliative care professionals. An online questionnaire was administered twice-November 2022 (t1) and May 2023 (t2)-to PC professionals in France (e.g. doctors, nurses, care assistants, psychologists). Of the initial 379 participants at t1, 280 completed both surveys, resulting in a 26% attrition rate. Chronic stress from ongoing end-of-life care was the strongest predictor of mental health between t1 and t2. Participants followed one of two trajectories: a resilience trajectory (63.21-68.93%) or a chronic distress trajectory (approximately 31.07-36.79%). Among all psychosocial factors measured, higher psychological flexibility significantly increased the odds of a resilience trajectory, as shown by associations with both burnout and well-being scores. Similarly, mindfulness and self-compassion are resilience factors on anxiety and depression scores.