Strategies For Self-Care and Developing Resilience in Nurses

STRATEGIES FOR SELF-CARE AND DEVELOPING RESILIENCE IN NURSES
The global shortfall in the number of nurses, personal and chronic occupational stressors are
responsible for burnout and stress in nurses(Kravits et al., 2010). The response of nurses to stress
is more important the stress itself as it relates to their well being. Cognitive transformation, self-
care, positive adaption, and resilience are some of the responses that are key to the effective
management of stress and enhancement of general wellbeing (Grafton and Coyne, 2012). The
strategies for self care and developing resilience will be discussed.
The actions initiated and taken by an individual for the purpose of sustaining his(er) health and
general wellbeing is regarded as self-care. This actions can be biological, psychological, social
and/or spiritual (Grafton and Coyne, 2012). Hutchinson(1987) identified five self-care strategies
that were used by nurses. They are: acting/asking assertively without being hostile or aggressive;
cultivating good working relationship which may involve helping and educating colleagues,
socializing and showing interest in others; releasing of emotions which may involve crying,
screaming, profanity, discussing issues with colleagues, physical exercise and spiritual activites;
emotional withdrawal from source of stress which may involve asking a colleague to take over,
floating among the units, changing shift, taking time out, being cold and calm in hostile
condition, and in extreme case resign; and humour. Hutchinson(1987) showed that humor can
boost the effectiveness of other strategies.
Shimoinaba et al. (2015) summarized the strategies for developing resilience in nurses into four-
self awareness, adaptive coping, validating care and accepting limitations. Hart et al. (2014)
elaborated on the strategies and classified the strategies into three levels-personal, group and
organization levels. The focus will be on the personal level strategies. Some of the personal
strategies for developing resilience include: emotional toughness and detachment (Kornhaber
and Wilson, 2011), cognitive reframing (Hodges, Keeley and Troyan, 2008), strong relationship
with family, friends and colleagues, a work–life balance(Glass, 2009), critical self reflection,
positive attitude through humour, laughter, positive thinking techniques, visualizations and
positive affirmations, extracurricular activities such as exercise, volunteerism and social network
groups(Gillespie, Chaboyer and Wallis, 2009), professional and personal mentorship(Hart,
Brannan and De Chesnay, 2014).
However, Hart et al. (2014) showed that some of the strategies do not significantly impact in all
the groups for which the strategies were tried. Cognitive reframing seems to promote
psychological flexibility and adaptability in the work environment in most of the nurses. Age,
experience, education and years of employment had a mixed impact on different nurse
populations (Gillespie et al., 2007; Gillespie, Chaboyer and Wallis, 2009). This seems to be in
line with findings of Hutchinson(1987). His study stressed that for these strategies to work, it
must be personally accepted by the nurse and correlate with their belief system.
References
Gillespie, B. M., Chaboyer, W. and Wallis, M. (2009) 'The influence of personal characteristics
on the resilience of operating room nurses: a predictor study', Int J Nurs Stud, 46(7), pp.
968-76.
Gillespie, B. M., Chaboyer, W., Wallis, M. and Grimbeek, P. (2007) 'Resilience in the operating
room: developing and testing of a resilience model', J Adv Nurs, 59(4), pp. 427-38.
Glass, N. (2009) 'An investigation of nurses' and midwives' academic/clinical workplaces: A
healing model to improve and sustain hope, optimism, and resilience in professional
practice', Holistic Nursing Practice, 23(3), pp. 158-170.
Grafton, E. and Coyne, E. (2012) 'Practical self-care and stress management for oncology
nurses', Australian Journal of Cancer Nursing, The, 13(2), pp. 17.
Hart, P. L., Brannan, J. D. and De Chesnay, M. (2014) 'Resilience in nurses: An integrative
review', Journal of Nursing Management, 22(6), pp. 720-734.
Hodges, H. F., Keeley, A. C. and Troyan, P. J. (2008) 'Professional resilience in baccalaureate-
prepared acute care nurses: first steps', Nurs Educ Perspect, 29(2), pp. 80-9.
Hutchinson, S. (1987) 'Self‐care and job stress', IMAGE: The Journal of Nursing Scholarship,
19(4), pp. 192-196.
Kornhaber, R. A. and Wilson, A. (2011) 'Building resilience in burns nurses: a descriptive
phenomenological inquiry', Journal of burn care & research, 32(4), pp. 481-488.
Kravits, K., McAllister-Black, R., Grant, M. and Kirk, C. (2010) 'Self-care strategies for nurses:
A psycho-educational intervention for stress reduction and the prevention of burnout',
Applied Nursing Research, 23(3), pp. 130-138.
Shimoinaba, K., O'Connor, M., Lee, S. and Kissane, D. (2015) 'Nurses' resilience and nurturance
of the self', International journal of palliative nursing, 21(10), pp. 504-510.

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