Longitudinal cross-lagged association between posttraumatic stress disorder, post-traumatic growth, and deliberate rumination among healthcare staff 2 years after the COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei Province, China.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and post-traumatic growth (PTG) are inspiratory areas of psychological research in which deliberate rumination has important implications. However, these relationships have not yet been assessed in the COVID-19 pandemic using longitudinal designs.

Methods: In this study, measures of PTSD, PTG, and deliberate rumination were collected from 2,292 healthcare staff members at two-time points six months apart in 2022-2023 from two general hospitals in Hubei Province, China. A cross-lagged analysis was used to simultaneously determine the directional relationships between these three variables.

Results: The results suggest that the relationship between PTG and deliberate behavior is bidirectional and mutually reinforcing (β = 0.133, P < 0.001; β = 0.129, P < 0.001). Significant prospective relations were observed between PTG and PTSD (β = 0.054, P < 0.01), and PTSD prospectively predicted changes in deliberate rumination (β = 0.204, P < 0.001). In addition, significant sex differences were observed in the cross-lagged models.

Conclusion: These findings highlighted the noteworthy cross-lagged relationship between PTSD, PTG, and deliberate rumination two years after the COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei Province, China. Therefore, interventions to reduce PTSD, promote PTG, and improve well-being among healthcare staff are important.