Resourcefulness and Stress Among Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses: The Role of Positive Thinking

Although hospice and palliative care nurses are one of the most vulnerable health care professionals at increased risk of experiencing work stress, so far, little attention has been paid to protective factors that could mitigate the impact of the nurses’ daily stressors. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to determine whether resourcefulness and positive thinking predict stress and 2) to evaluate whether positive thinking moderate/mediate the link between resourcefulness and stress among hospice and palliative care nurses. A cross-sectional correlational design was used to address the two research questions. A sample of 86 hospice and palliative care nurses (95% female) completed an online survey. The results showed that both positive thinking and resourcefulness are important negative predictors of stress, suggesting that they have a mitigation role. The mediation and moderation results were a little mixed but overall suggest that the impact of resourcefulness may be moderated by positive thinking.