Psychological preparedness and resilience of Palestinians' university staff during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional online survey

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant threat to the worldwide population. Although several studies have been conducted targeting the diverse population, such as healthcare professionals and students, no study available to date sheds light on the academic and administrative staff who have experienced stress due to daily academic activi-ties, such as using online platforms for teaching and learning. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the resilience and psychological preparedness of Palestinian university staff dur-ing the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey mode was applied. A convenience sampling was used to present academic and administrative university staff in Palestine. An invitation link was sent to participants via the university portal, including the questionnaires. A modified Psychological Preparedness for Disaster Threats Scale (PPDTS) and Ego-Resilience scale (ER11) were used for collecting data. Descriptive statistics were uti-lized to present participants' characteristics and outcome measures. Pearson correlation coef-ficient was utilized as appropriate to examine the association between variables. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 39.21±11.32 years. About 52.8% of participants ex-perienced stress from COVID-19, and only 20% of participants had previous disaster train-ing. Findings revealed that the mean score of the PPDTS and ER11 was 35.82±13.57 and 28.75±8.15, respectively, indicating that the participants had a moderate level of psychologi-cal preparedness and resilience. Psychological preparedness and resilience were positively correlated to each other (r = 0.731, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Disaster training was associated with better preparedness and higher resilience among university staff. Future training and en-hancements in training delivery modes are warranted to foster better resilience and prepared-ness among staff to deal with such a pandemic. This study also contributes to goal three of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, as we emphasize that with better resilience and preparedness, university staff will have better health and well-being in the community.