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

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.