"We are all a family" Staff Experiences of Working in Children's Blood and Cancer Centers in New Zealand-A Constructivist Grounded Theory

The Resilience of Pediatric Nurses in Context: A Mixed Methods Study

BACKGROUND

Resilience, an individual's ability to cope with and recover from stressors, is supported by contextually specific factors. Factors in the work environment may support or hinder nurses' resilience to the specific stressors present in pediatric nursing, an understudied population.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to explore the contextual factors in the work environment of pediatric nurses with varying levels of resilience, including social support, the work environment, and opportunities for coping from an individual approach.

METHODS

This study is a secondary mixed-methods analysis using ordinal logistic regression and a meta-matrix of survey responses and semi-structured interview transcripts from 30 pediatric nurses.

RESULTS

5 themes, 3 supporting and 2 hindering resilience, emerged from the interviews. Nurses described their resilience as supported by sharing the burden, support from administration, and taking a break. Participants described resilience as hindered when they found it challenging to provide quality nursing care and when they felt unappreciated or undervalued. No theme significantly changed the odds of having higher resilience.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that nurses recognize resources and conditions within their work environment as influencing their resilience. However, workplace resources and conditions are only one contributor to pediatric nurse resilience. Encouraging breaks and informal opportunities for nurses to support each other may support resilience in pediatric nurses. In addition, nursing leaders can support pediatric nurse resilience by regularly spending time connecting with nurses. Finally, health care organizations should consider how changes in the work environment may hinder nurse resilience by adding stress or changing access to supportive factors.

Negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nurses can be buffered by a sense of humor and appreciation

BACKGROUND

The first analyses of the various consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic show that the risk to nurses' psychological well-being is particularly high. As the pandemic and the demands imposed on nurses are not yet fully understood, there is a need to seek buffering factors to protect nurses' psychological health. In line with the earliest evidence, we hypothesize pandemic-related increases in perceived stress and decreases in the frequency of flow experiences, likewise in satisfaction with work, life, work performance, and well-being. As protective factors while dealing with pandemic-related stress, we suggest an individual's sense of humor and perceived appreciation.

METHODS

In June/July 2020 - during the first lockdown in Germany - participants completed an online-survey in which they were asked to rate their situation before the pandemic (retrospectively) and during the pandemic. Our sample consisted of 174 registered nurses (161 females, 13 males, Mage = 40.52), of whom 85 worked as public health nurses and 89 as geriatric nurses.

RESULTS

During the pandemic, nurses felt more stressed, had fewer flow experiences, and were less satisfied with their work, life, work-performance, and well-being than before the pandemic. In addition, nurses felt more appreciation from society but less from their patients. Sense of humor and the perceived appreciation of society and patients were confirmed as buffers of negative pandemic-related effects.

CONCLUSION

Our study contributes to the so far scarce knowledge on nurses' pandemic-related stress and well-being in combination with their resources. Moreover, we were able to identify sense of humor and appreciation as protective factors.