Fostering Professional Resilience: A Model to Promote Academic Success and Professional Competence of Under-represented Minorities in a Non-traditional Baccalaureate Nursing Program
Mary Anne Hanley, PhD, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Connie Silva, PhD, HNC, University of Texas Medical Branch
Presented at the Lubbock Conference
The current nursing workforce in Texas does not represent the population it serves. Several national commissions and organizations advocate for increasing the diversity of the workforce. Education programs must create environments that foster student achievement. This presentation outlines an innovative model for promoting the academic success of students from under-represented minorities through development of professional resiliency within a culturally appropriate context.
Nursing students and professionals experience multiple transitions daily. Researchers suggest resilience is an essential trait of professional nurses. Resilience reflects one’s social competence, ability to solve problems, autonomy, and sense of purpose. It is fostered through relationships with family, teachers, and colleagues. The characteristics of resilience cross boundaries of ethnicity, culture, and geography.
The elements of the Resiliency Development Program bolster student self-confidence, self-awareness, and ability to integrate new knowledge and skills with previous experiences. Workshops for faculty, students, peer tutors, and coaches introduce affective and cognitive domains of resilience and teach specific skills and activities that foster resilience represent the cornerstone of the program. Faculty workshops include approaches to supporting students’ resilience. Online media of resilience skills and activities, English and Spanish, are available for students to use themselves as well as teaching tools for patients and families.
Objectives:
- Discuss literature and research pertaining to the application of the concept of resilience in promoting academic successful and professional role development of nursing students.
- Analyze the effectiveness of the strategies and activities that comprise the