Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> <bold>Background:</bold> Since the World Health Organization declared Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic on 11th March 2020, 'resilience' has become a central but inconsistently defined construct in the health and care professions literature. Despite extensive use across disciplines, its conceptual boundaries remain fragmented, particularly at the level of individual professionals working in high-stress healthcare environments. <bold>Objective:</bold> This systematic literature review aims to identify, examine, and synthesize how resilience is conceptualized, defined, and operationalized among health and care professionals in literature published since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of developing an integrative conceptual definition of resilience in this population. <bold>Methods:</bold> A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO (American Psychological Association) for peer-reviewed articles published from March 2020 through March 2026. The search combined terms related to resilience, health and care professionals, and COVID-19 and/ or post-pandemic contexts. Screening followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 reporting guideline and the protocol was prospectively registered in Open Science Framework (OSF) registries. Data were synthesized using thematic and conceptual synthesis, reported in line with Enhancing Transparency in REporting the synthesis of Qualitative research (ENTREQ); methodological quality was appraised with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) version 2018. <bold>Results:</bold> Of 5,496 records identified, 3,128 unique records were screened, and 38 studies met all eligibility criteria, and were retained and synthesized. Resilience was conceptualized in four dominant but overlapping ways: (1) resilience as an individual psychological trait; (2) resilience as a dynamic adaptive process; (3) resilience as a relational and socially embedded capacity; and (4) resilience as morally and professionally situated endurance under systemic pressure. Significant tensions were observed between trait-based and systems’ informed interpretations. <bold>Conclusion:</bold> Resilience among health and care professionals in the post-pandemic literature is best understood not as a fixed attribute but as a multidimensional, context-responsive process shaped by psychological resources, relational support systems, and organizational conditions. We propose an integrative conceptual definition and a Three-layer Onion Model of Professional Resilience that conceptualizes resilience as emerging through interactions among individual, relational, and systemic domains. </p>