Resilience training: Effects on occupational stress and resilience of critical care nurses

Abstract

Aim: Working as a nurse, by its nature, causes a high degree of stress. Nurses are exposed to the higher levels of occupational, physical, and mental stresses in critical care units than the nurses in other units of a hospital. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of training for resilience on the intensive care unit nurses' occupational stress and resilience level. Methods: This study is a quasi-experimental intervention study that was done by recruiting 30 nurses who were selected from critical care units of an educational hospital in Sari City, Iran, through convenience sampling between April 2015 and February 2016. The resilience training was provided in 5 sessions of 90 to 120 minutes. The pretest-posttest approach was used in this study, and the nurses completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Expanded Nursing Stress Scale, before and 2 weeks after the training program. Results: The mean score of the occupational stress of the participants decreased significantly after the intervention (P =.001), and the mean score of resilience increased significantly after the intervention (P =.001). Conclusion: The results confirm the effectiveness of resilience training on occupational stress and resilience level of nurses working in the intensive care units.