Delivering resilience training to pre-registration student nurses in partnership with a reservist military organisation: A qualitative study.

Corlett, Jo; McConnachie, Tom

BACKGROUND Nurses need resilience to safeguard their well-being. In collaboration with a military reservist organisation the Team Series was designed to foster resilience by promoting teamwork and leadership skills in student nurses. OBJECTIVES To explore participants' experiences of engaging with the Team Series and the skills and knowledge acquired. DESIGN A qualitative design. SETTING A Scottish University. PARTICIPANTS Fourteen 3rd year pre-registration nursing students, ten academic staff and ten reservists. METHODS Audio-taped focus groups and interviews thematically analysed. RESULTS Students conceptualised resilience as clinical competence, valuing an active learning process enabling them to practice clinical and interpersonal skills, utilising a range of communication, team-building, leadership and problem-solving skills. Participation in the Team Series fostered self-awareness and self-confidence, the foundations of resilience, helping students feel more competent in coping effectively in stressful situations. CONCLUSION The positive impact of collaborating with a military organisation experienced in developing team-working and leadership skills is demonstrated. Learning experiences designed to promote physical and emotional resilience should be threaded throughout curricula to ensure these attributes are developed and sustained over time.