Resilience, personal recovery, and quality of life for psychiatric in-patients prior to hospital discharge: Demographic and clinical determinants

Ernest Owusu¹Vincent V. I. O. Agyapong^1,2*Wanying Mao¹Reham Shalaby¹Hossam Eldin Elgendy¹Belinda Agyapong¹Ejemai Eboreime²Lawal A Mobolaji¹Nkire Nnamdi¹Carla T. Hilario³Yifeng Wei¹Peter H Silverstone¹PIERRE CHUE¹Xinmin Li¹Wesley Vuong⁴Arto Ohinmaa⁵Valerie Taylor⁶Andrew James Greenshaw¹

• ¹Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• ²Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• ³School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
• ⁴Addiction and Mental Health, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• ⁵School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• ⁶Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Introduction: Patients with mental health challenges often see the transition from hospital to community as a test of resilience and a potential threat to recovery. Many question their ability to cope with everyday challenges. This paper examines how demographic and clinical factors predict resilience, personal recovery, and quality of life.Methods: Data were collected from psychiatric inpatients before discharge using REDCap, an online survey platform. Resilience, recovery, and quality of life were assessed with the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS), and EQ-Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS). ANCOVA was used to compare group relationships. Demographic and clinical variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, and mental health diagnosis were independent variables.Results: Males had significantly higher resilience scores than females (Mdiff = 0.270, p<.001) and others (Mdiff = 0.470, p<.001). Self-identified Black individuals had higher quality of life scores than Caucasians (Mdiff = 8.79, p<.001) and Indigenous individuals (Mdiff = 14.50, p<.001). Participants with depression had significantly lower recovery scores compared to those with bipolar disorder (Mdiff = -10.25, p<.001), schizophrenia (Mdiff = -8.60, p<.001), and substance use disorder (Mdiff = -8.30, p<.005).Conclusion: Results suggest that women, younger adults, Indigenous peoples, and individuals with depression struggle more with adapting to post-discharge life. Policymakers should implement programs that focus on supporting resilience in these vulnerable groups.