Personal resilience in nurses and midwives: Effects of a work-based educational intervention

Abstract

Nurses and midwives commonly face a variety of challenges and difficulties in their everyday work. Stress, pressure, fatigue and anxiety are acknowledged sources of workplace adversity, which causes decreased perceptions of health and wellbeing. This study reports the effects of a work-based, educational intervention to promote personal resilience in a group of 14 nurses and midwives working in a busy clinical environment. The intervention encouraged participants to focus on the key characteristics of a resilient person and the elements that assisted them in their maintenance of personal resilience. The intervention also explored potential strategies for the future. Opportunities were provided for experiential learning, creative self-expression and exposure to new ideas. Primary effects of the intervention were found to benefit the participants in personal and professional areas; by enhanced confidence, self-awareness, assertiveness and self-care. This intervention had implications for the education and practice of nurses and midwives in terms of building and maintaining their personal resilience, especially those exposed to workplace adversity.

Surviving workplace adversity: a qualitative study of nurses and midwives and their strategies to increase personal resilience

“…). This suggestion was confirmed in a case study involving a work‐based, educational intervention to assist participants to develop and maintain their personal resilience in the face of workplace adversity (McDonald et al , ; ). Despite workplace adversity, many nurses and midwives are able to sustain themselves physically, mentally and emotionally (Koen et al .…”

Exploring resilience in Chinese nurses: a cross-sectional study

“…It is found to protect against nurses’ emotional exhaustion and an important component for their well‐being and mental and physical health (McDonald et al . ).…”

What is the impact of shift work on the psychological functioning and resilience of nurses? An integrative review

“…, McDonald et al . ). However, far less work has been conducted that focuses exclusively on understanding the impact of shift work on psychological outcomes.…”