Stress, Change, and Peer-to-Peer Advice: A Qualitative Exploration of Nursing Faculty Experiences
Concurrent Session 6
Brief Abstract
This research examines nursing faculty’s experiences with self-compassion, compassion-fatigue, stress, and self-care. Caring for students can lead to emotional stress, contributing to burnout and compassion fatigue. Nurses are adept at assessing others’ stressors, but
recognizing their own stress is crucial for self-compassion and self-care.
Additional Authors
Extended Abstract
The achievement of nursing faculty is crucial for both higher education enrollment and the fulfillment of national workforce needs in nursing. Educational institutions are facing mounting pressure to attract students to their nursing programs and produce competent nurses who are prepared for the job market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020), there is a need for 203,700 new registered nurses each year in the Unite States from 2020 to 2026 due to growing healthcare demands. However, a shortage of nursing faculty in colleges and universities presents a significant challenge in meeting this goal. This shortage limits enrollment in nursing programs and is perpetuated by various challenges such as increasing workloads, pay disparities, and staffing shortfalls within academia. These challenges create a stark contrast to the goals of nursing faculty for academic excellence and quality student outcomes.
Educational leaders have a crucial role in supporting and retaining high-quality nursing faculty by recognizing their needs, including fatigue, and providing them with appropriate resources. Additionally, nursing faculty face the challenge of emotional labor, which can lead to burnout due to their demanding roles as teachers, mentors, advisors, and caregivers, while managing complex emotions from students, patients, and their own experiences. Unfortunately, this labor is often undervalued, unpaid, and unappreciated. To address this issue, it is essential to prioritize the physical and mental well-being of nursing faculty. Understanding the experiences of nursing faculty can help institutions recruit and retain highly skilled educators, enable nurse educators to thrive in their roles, and ultimately meet the demand for an increased number of nursing graduates.
The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of nursing faculty, with the aim of providing insights that could help educational institutions recruit and retain highly skilled educators, support the success of nurse educators in their roles, and ultimately meet the demand for a increased number of nursing graduates. The study gathered detailed accounts of nursing faculty experiences, including the challenges they face, changes in their teaching practices, and advice for coping with the demands of their challenging jobs. Throughout the research, the research team utilized specific research questions to guide their inquiry and analysis.
The research questions utilized in this research were:
- RQ1: How are Nursing faculty experiencing stress?
- RQ2: How have Nursing faculty changed their pedagogical practices including teaching, supervision, advising, and mentoring students?
- RQ3: What advice do current Nursing faculty have for new faculty regarding self-compassion, stress, and self-care?
Participants in this presentation can plan to be involved in an interactive poll utilizing their smart phones or laptops. They will be queried regarding their recognition of stress at the workplace, whether they practice self-compassion or self-care, and what if any stress-relievers do they utilize. It will be a fun and interactive way to involve participants in the presentation and allow them to compare their responses with our study group and findings.
This qualitative research examines the experiences of nursing faculty who are currently dealing with increased stress levels and navigating multiple workplace changes. By inviting nurse educators to share their own insights and wisdom, the study aims to view them as experts on their own experiences. The recommendations offered by nurse educators include practicing self-compassion, seeking mentorship, recognizing signs of compassion fatigue or burnout, and managing time commitments to avoid overcommitment. The study also highlights the importance of addressing nurse educator needs for compassion and concerns regarding compassion fatigue, while emphasizing the need for enhanced self-compassion in this challenging profession.
It is our hope that participants in this conference, and in our interactive polling, also take from this experience, the need for self-compassion and self-care regardless of their job or position. It is a complicated world and a difficult time that we live in. We would like to remind everyone that when you take a trip on an airline, and the stewardess briefs passengers about the use of the oxygen mask should the cabin lose pressure, she tells them to apply their own mask BEFORE they can assist someone else (even a child)! That is because you NEED to take care of yourself before you can help anyone else. That applies to nursing as well!
This presentation will review the findings from the three research questions posed during this research, the answers as provided by qualitative analysis of data, and the conclusions. Recommendations will be made for stress reductions, self-compassion, and self-care as related to this study.
Session Goals:
- Conference participants will be able to discuss a minimum of 3 stressors identified by nurse Educators related to work.
- Conference participants will be able to recognize individual stressors in their own workplace.
- Conference participants will be able to discuss 2 stress relievers as potential self-care options for their own work stress.