Strengthening internal resources to promote resilience among prelicensure nursing students

Resilience is a complex construct that is not universally defined, but reflects the ability of a person, community, or system to positively adapt to adversity in a way that promotes growth and well-being. Developing resilient nurses is a promising strategy to reduce nurse burnout and improving retention. The purpose of this paper is to review selected literature, synthesize, and interpret the findings that point toward promising practices that educators can employ to support student resilience. Four prominent prelicensure nursing student internal protective factors associated with resilience and derived from the literature include self-efficacy, optimism, emotional intelligence, and self-stewardship/self-care. Interventions to promote nursing student resilience is not well developed, however, there are promising evidence to inform concepts and interventions to guide the development, skills, practices, and strategies for nurse educators. Educational strategies to enhance student nurse internal protective factors include reflection, positive reframing, problem-based learning, and mindfulness. Specific examples of each educational modality applied to prelicensure student nurse resilience are provided. Integrative strategies to support and cultivate internal protective factors to strengthen student resilience are paramount to nursing education and clinical nursing practice.