The relationship of resilience, hardiness, depression and burnout among Japanese psychiatric hospital nurses

Objectives: Psychological resilience is considered to be the ability of an individual to adjust positively to adversity. This study was conducted to examine the resilience of nurses in psychiatric hospitals in Japan. Two hypotheses tested were: 1) their resilience is negatively correlated to their depression and burnout; 2) their resilience is positively correlated to their hardiness and self-esteem Method: To identify the magnitude of individuals’ resilience, a 32-item ‘Resilience Scale for Nurses’ (RSN) was administered to 327 nurses employed at three psychiatric hospitals in Japan. For the purpose of evaluating the correlation of resilience with other measures, psychological scales relevant to the RSN were also employed, such as the ‘Japanese Self-Esteem Scale’, the ‘Japanese Hardiness Scale 20’, the ‘Japanese version of the Beck Depression Inventory’, and the ‘Japanese version of Burnout Scale’. Results: A total of 313 nurses responded to the questionnaire (95.7% response rate). The principal factor method suggested a three-factor solution, consisting of ‘Positivity in nursing’, ‘Interpersonal skills’, and ‘Adaptability in the workplace’. The levels of Cronbach’s alpha for the overall RSN (.74) as well as each of the three factors (.64; .63; .61, respectively) were respectable. Positive correlations of the RSN were found with the Self-Esteem Scale (.38; p <.01) and the Hardiness Personality Scale (.47 and .27; p <.01), and negative correlations of the RSN were found with the Beck Depression Inventory (-.26; p <.01) and the Burnout Scale (-.31, -.27 and -.30; p <.01). Conclusions: The levels of Cronbach’s alpha supported the internal consistency reliability of the RSN. All of the three factors reflected characteristics of resilience as had already been indicated by the previous studies, supporting the construct validity of the RSN. Significant correlations of the RSN with well-established measures of mental health provided evidence for the two hypotheses.