Resilience and Self-Care in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Multicentre Cross-Sectional Study in Outpatient Settings

Background/Objectives: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), significantly affects patients’ quality of life. Re- silience and self-care are vital for disease management, yet their relationship with IBD remains underexplored. This study investigates how self-care behaviours influence resil- ience in patients with IBD, taking into account sociodemographic and clinical factors. Methods: This was a multicentre observational study. Data were collected during routine outpatient visits between April and June 2024. Participants (≥18 years) with an IBD diag- nosis for at least 12 months were recruited. Data were collected using validated instru- ments, including the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25), the Self-Care of Chronic Illness Inventory (SC-CII), and sociodemographic and clinical questionnaires. Disease activity was assessed using the Mayo Score (UC) and the Harvey–Bradshaw In- dex (CD). Descriptive, correlational, and regression analyses explored variable relation- ships. This study was conducted as part of the N-ECCO Research Grant initiative. Results: A total of 401 participants (CD: 196, UC: 205) were enrolled, with equal gender distribu- tion (50.1% male). The descriptive analysis of self-care levels showed a mean score of 72.6 (SD = 12.5) for self-care maintenance, 81.0 (SD = 18.2) for self-care monitoring, and 70.5 (SD = 18.4) for self-care management. The UC patients had higher self-care management scores than the CD patients (p = 0.002). The median resilience score was 45, and self-care management positively predicted resilience (β = 0.041, p < 0.001). Disease severity nega- tively affected resilience and self-care, particularly in severe cases (β = −8.334, p < 0.001).The females reported higher resilience and self-care monitoring scores than the men. Con- clusions: Resilience and self-care are interrelated and crucial in IBD management. En- hancing resilience through personalised nursing interventions and integrating psycholog- ical and educational support may improve self-care and clinical outcomes.