Modern professional activity is characterized by high intensity and substantial intellectual and emotional demands, which makes the problem of maintaining a specialist’s work capacity and psychological well-being particularly relevant. Under these conditions, professional resilience is viewed as a key personality quality that ensures successful self-realization and professional longevity, as well as counteracts the development of professional burnout. The inclusion of burnout in ICD‑11 further underscores the need for the purposeful development of qualities that support professional resilience already at the stage of professional education.

Despite the considerable attention paid to the study of professional resilience, its definition, essence, structure, and functions remain the subject of debate. An analysis of the scientific literature shows that there are various theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding professional resilience.

Professional resilience is generally understood as an integrative personality trait that enables a specialist to maintain a high level of performance of professional functions over an extended period, despite the impact of adverse factors and stressors. This quality ensures stable functioning in complex and non-standard conditions, acting as a system-forming personal resource.

Russian psychology presents several theoretical approaches to understanding this phenomenon. Platonov considered professional resilience as a personality trait that imparts intensity, effectiveness, and stability to professional orientation, forming a “work dominant.” Other authors focus either on the moral and physical qualities that make it possible to neutralize negative factors of professional activity (Rzhannikova), or on the specialist’s ability to preserve professional potential under changing working conditions and, on the contrary, to maintain interest in working in the same place over a long period (Kucher).

In several studies, professional resilience is interpreted as an integrative construct that includes knowledge, skills, abilities, and motivational, emotional–volitional, and reflective components that ensure the effectiveness of activity while preserving work capacity and interest in the profession. The structure of professional resilience is described through emotional, motivational, cognitive, volitional, communicative, and reflective–regulatory components. The emotional and regulatory aspects are considered central, as they determine the nature of a specialist’s behavior in stressful situations and the overall capacity for self-regulation.

Professional resilience is not a static formation. It is subject to dynamic change under the influence of various factors. It may increase in the process of professional development and the accumulation of experience, or decrease under the impact of unfavorable working conditions, ultimately leading to professional burnout. This highlights the need for constant attention to the maintenance and development of professional resilience at all stages of a professional career.