title: The presence of resilience is associated with a healthier psychological profile in intensive care unit (ICU) nurses: results of a national survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  ICU nurses are repeatedly exposed to work related stresses resulting in the development of psychological disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder and burnout syndrome. Resilience is a learnable multidimensional characteristic enabling one to thrive in the face of adversity. In a national survey, we sought to determine whether resilience was associated with healthier psychological profiles in intensive care unit nurses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Surveys were mailed to 3500 randomly selected ICU nurses across the United States and included: demographic questions, the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 1239 of the mailed surveys were returned for a response rate of 35%, and complete data was available on a total of 744 nurses. Twenty-two percent of the intensive care unit nurses were categorized as being highly resilient. The presence of high resilience in these nurses was significantly associated with a lower prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder, symptoms of anxiety or depression, and burnout syndrome (<0.001 for all comparisons). In independent multivariable analyses adjusting for five potential confounding variables, the presence of resilience was independently associated with a lower prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (p<0.001), and a lower prevalence of burnout syndrome (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presence of psychological resilience was independently associated with a lower prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder and burnout syndrome in intensive care unit nurses. Future research is needed to better understand coping mechanisms employed by highly resilient nurses and how they maintain a healthier psychological profile.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. Meredith.Mealer@ucdenver.edu
authors.forename: Meredith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mealer
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Kim K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: McFann
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rothbaum
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moss
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce