About the Research

Resilience as the ability to thrive in adverse circumstances has become a big field of research. While in popular literature the term is used primarily at the level of individuals, groups and organizations can also be considered (more or less) resilient. The health crisis brought about by the pandemic has become a touchstone for resilience. People who spend their everyday working life in the hospital are particularly affected by this – and often remain invisible to the general public. How do they experience their working environment under these circumstances? What strategies are used (in the organization and in the team) to deal with professional challenges? Where do employees draw strength and motivation from for their work? To what extent do shared values at organizational level contribute to this common “spirit”? We, the IFZ, want to answer these questions in a new project. A special focus of this project are the 23 Austrian hospitals that are run by religious congregations.

Methodologies

• A systematic literature research provides a comprehensive overview to the concept of resilience and its use in the context of hospitals.
• With the help of a document analysis, the organizational values of all 23 order’s hospitals in Austria are examined. This approach is based on the well-founded assumption that a common understanding of “mission sense” promotes resilience.
• With the help of a standardized short online questionnaire, a current picture of the “common mood” among health and administrative staff members of the order’s hospitals is captured with regard to individual and organizational resilience. A series of problem-focused interviews will then be conducted with staff members holding various positions in three selected order’s hospitals.

Output

In order to communicate the results of the project to the general public, the following concrete products are planned:
• a technical discussion at the ifz in autumn 2023, at which approx. 15 people from different areas of work in the order’s hospitals and scientific experts will talk about resilience.
• a brochure that – based on a research report – summarizes the main results of the project in a practical way.
• the public presentation of this publication as part of a closing event in October/November 2023 in one of the order’s hospitals.