Effectiveness of a resilience-focused educational program for promoting resilience in nursing students: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIM

To evaluate the effectiveness of a resilience-focused educational program to promote resilience among the forming year's BSN students.

BACKGROUND

Resilience is a resource for the well-being and growth of nursing students. Lack of resilience is a high-risk condition for psychosocial health problems that hinder students' academic and professional growth during the BSN program.

DESIGN

A systematic review and meta-analysis are reported using PRISMA guidelines. The review was registered at the PROSPERO with the ID number: CRD42023475098.

METHODS

A primary search was done on the most relevant databases: PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO while a secondary search was done on the Wiley Online Library, HEC Digital Library, and Science Direct for studies in the English language that assessed resilience-building interventions in forming years (1st and 2nd year) undergraduate nursing students till Oct 2023. Both quasi-experimental studies (QESs) and randomized control trial studies (RCTs) were included in this review. The meta-analysis was performed on three QESs and two RCTs that provided information about a pooled estimate of resilience promotion.

RESULTS

Of 596 identified records, six were found eligible comprising four QESs and two RCTs with a total of 472 participants. Studies were found with variability in sample size, intervention strategy, teaching-learning activities, intervention content and duration, measurement scales, and statistical analysis of the main outcome. Meta-analysis of QESs showed no effects between pre-and post-intervention resilience scores, the standardized mean difference (SMD) of 0.04 [95 % CI -0.22, 0.30]. The RCTs immediately after intervention showed a non-significant effect, SMD 0.35 [95 % CI -0.06, 0.75]; however, at follow-up of one month, it showed a statistically significant effect in favor of the experimental group, SMD 0.54 [95 % CI 0.12, 0.95].

CONCLUSION

This review has provided evidence of a delayed effect of educational intervention to improve resilience among nursing students. The resilience-focused educational intervention has the potential to improve the resilience of nursing students. However, because of the time-bound and multi-faceted nature of resilience, a need to develop an inclusive multi-dimensional approach for resilience building is recommended for future studies.

REPORTING METHOD

The manuscript has been written in adherence with PRISMA guidelines for the systematic review and meta-analysis.