Nurses can experience high stress and burnout. This negatively impacts patient care and staff wellbeing. Existing programs targeting nurse wellbeing are resource-intensive. Simple, low-cost self-administered options are needed. One potential is self-affirmation interventions, which involve reflecting on values. It has been used to improve people’s wellbeing, but not specifically for nurses.
This research explored whether self-affirmation could improve nurse wellbeing.
Interviews with nurses affirmed that values and value congruence is important for their wellbeing and perceptions of the care they provide. An intervention plan was developed and workshops run with nurses to co-produce the final design. This was then tested with the general public, wholly due to COVID-19 demands on nurses at the time. We found no effects of the intervention on wellbeing.
Further research on low-cost and co-produced programs for nurse wellbeing is warranted.
