A Photovoice study on nurses' perceptions and experience of resiliency

To explore the meaning of resilience to nurses and their perceived resilience enhancing factors.

With challenges faced at work, nurses' professional quality of life is adversely affected with nurses experiencing compassion fatigue, depression, burnout and even signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. Degree of resilience can determine job satisfaction and nursing attrition.

The study adopted a descriptive qualitative design using Photovoice. Eight nurses from an academic medical centre in Singapore participated in focus group interviews and data were analysed with inductive content analysis approach.

Four themes were generated: (a) resilience is performing nursing duties despite adversities; (b) resilience is a dynamic process that develops over time; (c) religion and faith help build resilience; and (d) support of others is important in overcoming work-related stress.

Knowledge on resilience is vital to understand influencing factors of personal resilience and relationship to stress and burnout. Building nurses' resilience is significant to improve and sustain healthy and effective functioning of nurses.

With sufficient external resources and psychosocial support from hospital administrators, early resilience-based approach may provide the buffer and protective factor in facing workplace stress, to improve overall job satisfaction and improve nurses' retention.