Light at the end of the tunnel: New graduate nurses' accounts of resilience: A qualitative study using Photovoice

Background: Resilience is the ability to overcome any stressful situation. The ability to bounce back is said to enable a person to emerge stronger, perform better, and become more confident and selfefficient. The new graduate nurses' journey is a stressful experience as they become immersed in the day-to-day work pressures. Objective: The study explored the new graduate nurses' accounts of resilience and the facilitating and impeding factors in building their resilience. Methods and Participants: A qualitative study using Photovoice was employed in this study and guided by the theory of Sense of Coherence. Nine new graduate nurses from one university and working for a year in one university-affiliated hospital in Singapore were interviewed and data was subjected to thematic analysis. Findings: Four themes emerged: (1) resilience is persevering and overcoming obstacles; (2) resilience is accepting one's responsibilities and fulfilling them; (3) resilience is adapting to new situations; and (4) resilience is taking control of own learning. The exhaustive account of their resilience is portrayed as “light at the end of the tunnel”. Conclusion: In spite of the stressful working environment and obstacles encountered as new graduate nurses, participants' resilience is built upon the comprehensibility, meaningfulness and management of any situation they face in their personal, spiritual and professional life. Future research is needed to objectively measure their level of Sense of Coherence and association with their level of resilience

Understanding the influence of resilience on psychological outcomes — Comparing results from acute care nurses in Canada and Singapore

Background: Building resilience among nurses is one of the ways to support and retain nurses in the profession. Prior literature which evaluated influence of resilience on psychological outcomes, were conducted in relatively homogeneous populations. It is of interest to evaluate whether relationships between resilience and psychological outcomes remain consistent across nations and among different nursing populations. Aim: To evaluate a theoretical model of the impact of resilience on burnout (BO), secondary traumatic stress (STS) and compassion satisfaction (CS) by comparing results between nurses in Canada and Singapore. Method: A self-reported questionnaire consisting of questions on demographics, resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale), and psychological adjustment (Professional Quality of Life) was administered via an online survey. One thousand three hundred and thirty-eight nurses working in two Academic Medical Centres in Singapore responded to the online survey. Similar data was also collected from 329 nurses in Canada. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Results: Resilience exerts a significant negative direct impact on STS, and a significant negative direct impact on BO. Additionally, resilience has a positive direct impact on compassion satisfaction. STS exerts a positive direct impact on BO while CS has a negative direct impact on BO. Conclusion: Current study affirmed significant associations between resilience and professional quality of life. Knowledge on resilience is key in informing design and implementation of resilience-building strategies that include professional development, and strengthening of interpersonal skills. A resilience-based approach will help reduce nurses' BO and STS while caring for their patients, and in turn reduce turnover