Cultivating joy: Improving nurse resilience through use of a practice playbook

Abstract

Purpose/aims: The purpose of this study was to determine whether resiliency activities, compiled into a practice playbook designed for implementation by nurse leaders and self-initiation by clinical nurses, improves resilience in both the nurse leaders and direct care nurses who implement them.

Background: Evidence indicates strengthening nurse resilience increases well-being, protects against burnout, improves retention and increases patient safety.

Methods: A resilience playbook was assembled to include stress-reduction activities. Resilience was measured at baseline and after two phases during which participants engaged in leader-led and self-initiated activities. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was used to measure resilience.

Results: A total of 118 nurses completed both phases; 17 leaders and 101 clinical nurses. A significant increase in mean CD-RISC scores was detected among those who participated in self-initiated activities (p = 0.01). Initiating or participating in leader-led activities did not positively impact resilience scores. Further, clinical nurses who participated in leader-led activities were not more likely to participate in self-initiated activities.

Conclusions: This study supports self-initiated resilience-strengthening activities as beneficial to nurses, but not leader-led initiatives. These results are especially important for nursing leaders as they strive to reduce burnout, improve nurse retention and achieve exceptional practice quality.

Keywords: Burnout; Nurse burnout; Nurse leadership; Nurse resiliency; Resilience; Resiliency.