Infection prevention and control professionals: Stress, resilience, personality traits and views about their workforce and profession

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic placed considerable strain on the infection control professional workforce, who were at the forefront of pandemic response in their organisations and beyond. In order to support infection control professionals and inform future initiatives, it is important to further understand the infection control workforce. The objective of this study was to determine stress and resilience levels, personality traits and workforce intentions of infection control professionals in Australia and New Zealand.

Methods: We undertook an anonymous, cross-sectional online survey of infection control professionals in Australia and New Zealand. Validated tools, the brief resilience tool, workforce stressor tool and the Big Five personality test, were used to evaluate levels of stress, resilience and personality traits.

Results: Three hundred and fifty-six infection control professionals started the survey, with representation from all Australian jurisdictions and New Zealand. The mean stress score was 4.28 (SD 3.39) and 3.34 (SD 0.65) for resilience. Younger participants and those with less experience in infection control had higher levels of stress and lower levels of resilience. Individual personality traits vary by age, level of education and credentialing status. Approximately one-fifth of participants indicated that they planned to leave the IC workforce in the next three years.

Conclusions: Our study was the largest published study involving infection control professionals in Australia and New Zealand. Findings highlight the need for mentoring, peer support and wellbeing initiatives to support the profession. Understanding personality traits may also be beneficial for further enhancing communication and interpersonal relationships.