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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2014 Nov;23(6):e97-105.
doi: 10.4037/ajcc2014747.

Feasibility and acceptability of a resilience training program for intensive care unit nurses

Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Feasibility and acceptability of a resilience training program for intensive care unit nurses

Meredith Mealer et al. Am J Crit Care. 2014 Nov.

Erratum in

  • Correction.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Am J Crit Care. 2016 Mar;25(2):172. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2016417. Am J Crit Care. 2016. PMID: 26932920 No abstract available.

Abstract

Background: The critical nursing shortage is particularly apparent in specialty areas such as intensive care units (ICUs). Some nurses develop resilient coping strategies and adapt to stressful work experiences, mitigating the development of common maladaptive psychological symptoms.

Objectives: To determine if a multimodal resilience training program for ICU nurses was feasible to perform and acceptable to the study participants.

Methods: In a randomized and controlled 12-week intervention study, treatment and control groups completed demographic questions and measures of resilience, anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and burnout syndrome before and after the intervention. The intervention included a 2-day educational workshop, written exposure sessions, event-triggered counseling sessions, mindfulness-based stress reduction exercises, and a protocolized aerobic exercise regimen. Nurses in the intervention arm also completed satisfaction surveys for each component of the intervention.

Results: This mulitmodal resilience training program was feasible to conduct and acceptable to ICU nurses. Both nurses randomized to the treatment group and nurses randomized to the control group showed a significant decrease in PTSD symptom score after the intervention.

Conclusions: A multifaceted resilience training program for ICU nurses was both feasible and acceptable. A sufficiently powered, randomized clinical trial is needed to assess the effect of the intervention on improving individuals' level of resilience and improving psychological outcomes such as symptoms of anxiety, depression, burnout syndrome, and PTSD.

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