Positive psychology: resilience and its role within mental health nursing

Abstract

This is the ninth article in a series that explores the meaning of positive psychology and the importance it has on the wellbeing of the mental health workforce. It will focus on positive psychology interventions that help to develop resilience and to consider how the uplifting effect of resilience through contemporary use in the field of mental health nursing can be experienced. This article will explain what the term resilience means and how it is embedded in the practice of positive psychological interventions. Finally, it will emphasise how the application of positive psychological interventions can benefit the individual and the organisation. The practical tasks provided in the boxes throughout the article will help the reader identify what resilience means for them and understand how to further develop its transferability through evidence-based, user-friendly exercises.

Organizational factors to optimize mental health nurses' wellbeing in the workplace: An integrative literature review

“…Developing skills of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and self-compassion have been identified as favourable outcomes of the resilience programmes. Macfarlane (2021) talks about the foundational CBT skills in resilience programmes, and Foster, Cuzzillo, and Furness (2018) determined that nurses find these skills helpful. Self-compassion can be described as the ability to be kind to oneself.…”

“…While there are a significant number of articles referring to the benefits of resilience training, there is a recent argument in the literature that initiatives to build an individual's resilience can be perceived negatively by nurses and can result in feelings of being weak or not strong enough (Aburn et al, 2020). However, in a recent paper, Macfarlane (2021) concluded that a proactive approach to resilience building is valuable and should be a part of organizational wellbeing strategies. She recommended that workplaces could support and develop resilience to retain staff, support wellbeing and in turn, improve outcomes for people using services.…”

Analysis of Students’ Business Independence and Entrepreneurial Resilience Through the Use of Digital Technology in a Business Student Community

“…Resilience was a construct of various dimensions related to determination and the ability to survive, adapt, and recover when challenged with unfortunate conditions (Taormina, 2015). According to Macfarlane (2021), resilience was a person's ability to rise or resilience in facing challenging conditions and ambiguity. According to Wijaya (2008), entrepreneurs also needed the courage to take risks and dare to face obstacles as a consequence of something that should be done so that if they failed, individuals did not focus on reasons for the obstacles they met.…”