Building communities for synergistic resilience: Factors in personal and collective resilience and vocational commitment for U.S. mental health care workers during and following the COVID-19 pandemic

Schulenberg, Velma Ruth

Item

Building communities for synergistic resilience: Factors in personal and collective resilience and vocational commitment for U.S. mental health care workers during and following the COVID-19 pandemic

Schulenberg, Velma Ruth

Date

2025-12-02

Abstract

This dissertation, authored by V. Ruth Schulenberg and presented to the Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University for the PhD in Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, incorporates insights from a qualitative study of thirteen interdisciplinary mental healthcare workers between 2023-2024. It explores factors influencing personal and collective resilience and vocational commitment among U.S. mental health care workers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The study defines "synergistic resilience" as a pattern of relational and collective tenacity and growth amid hardship, arguing that resilience is not solely an individual trait but is mutually created or hindered by individual, organizational, and communal factors. The research focuses on how personal and communal experiences, narrated in individual interviews and two focus groups, foster or undermine mental healthcare worker resilience and vocational commitment, incorporating insights from public health, social psychology, pastoral theology, and other disciplines. The project proposes that individual and collective resilience are interrelated, shaped by intrapsychic dynamics, interpersonal relationships, and sociocultural and institutional structures. As a pastoral theological dissertation, it explores the lived experiences of suffering and resilience narrated by mental health care workers with the aim of providing frameworks for care to alleviate suffering and promote human flourishing for mental healthcare workers and the communities they serve. As a narrative study, participant stories are examined using thematic, critical narrative, and narrative therapeutic analyses to offer constructive proposals for individual, communal, and systemic care practices. The study offers valuable insights for transformative care and advocacy that transcend religious and disciplinary boundaries to benefit mental health workers, healthcare organizations, and communities regardless of spiritual affiliation.