Giving while grieving: Racism-related stress and psychological resilience in Black/African American registered nurses

Studies have found race-related stress psychologically and physiologically harms members of stigmatized racial groups. However, the stressor is racism, not race.

This study examined the relationship between racism-related stress and psychological resilience in Black/African American nurses.

This study used a cross-sectional, quantitative, correlational design with two instruments, an investigator-developed demographic questionnaire and a convenience sample.

Participants perceived they have low psychological resilience in stressful situations. With racism-related stress, in particular, participants perceived they are affected by both lived and vicarious racism - ruminating over past occurrences, and expecting/worrying that racism will happen to them or other Black/African American people. There was a significant positive correlation between participants' perceived psychological resilience, their ability to assess the nature of the racism-related stressor and their ability to mitigate its harmful effects by identifying and utilizing their coping resources. There was a negative correlation between racism-related stress and psychological resilience.

There is a need for continued research on racism-related stress among Black/African American nurses. Further, healthcare organizations, advisably through their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, must develop systemic approaches to meeting the unique needs of the Black/African American workforce.