BACKGROUND: Disaster nursing refers to the knowledge, skills, and professional judgement required to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disaster events. Psychological resilience refers to the capacity to adapt to adversity while maintaining professional functioning. In Saudi Arabia, post-pandemic evaluation of these capacities is particularly relevant because nurses practise in a setting shaped by mass gatherings, emerging infectious disease threats, and ongoing emergency preparedness demands. However, evidence remains limited regarding the level of disaster nursing competency among registered nurses in Saudi Arabia and its relationship with psychological resilience in the post-pandemic period. This study assessed disaster nursing competencies and psychological resilience among registered nurses in Saudi Arabia and identified factors associated with disaster nursing competency. METHODS: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted among registered nurses working in four regions of Saudi Arabia: Arar, Riyadh, Hail, and Jizan. Data were collected electronically over nine weeks from May to July 2025 using a demographic and professional characteristics questionnaire, the Disaster Nursing Ability Assessment Scale, and the Arabic version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Of 628 invited nurses, 512 returned the questionnaire; 22 incomplete responses were excluded, yielding a final analytical sample of 490 (78.0% response rate). Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Participants reported a high overall level of disaster nursing competency (mean 4.01, standard deviation SD 0.66) and a moderate-to-high level of psychological resilience (mean 2.97, SD 0.78). Among competency domains, Disaster Reduction/Prevention had the highest mean score (4.06, SD 0.66) and Disaster Preparedness had the lowest (3.96, SD 0.71). Total disaster nursing competency was positively correlated with total psychological resilience (r = 0.447, p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression identified three significant predictors of disaster nursing competency: higher educational level (β = 0.311, p < 0.001), urban residence (β = 0.195, p < 0.001), and prior formal disaster training (β = 0.185, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Registered nurses in this sample demonstrated generally favourable disaster nursing competency and moderate-to-high psychological resilience, with disaster preparedness identified as the lowest-scoring domain. The positive association between competency and resilience, together with the modifiable predictors identified, suggests that targeted educational and training strategies may inform future nursing education, disaster preparedness training, and workforce development initiatives in Saudi Arabia. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.
Mersal et al. (Tue,) studied this question.