Reflecting on a journey of resilience in children's blood and cancer nursing. Issue 2 (4th March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aburn, Gemma Elizabeth; Hoare, Karen; Gott, Merryn
• Is Part Of: Reflective practice. Volume 19:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 250
• Page End: 263
• Publication Date: 2018-03-04
• Subjects: Reflective practice -- resilience -- children's nursing -- paediatric oncology; Professions -- Periodicals; Reflection (Philosophy) -- Periodicals; Thought and thinking -- Periodicals; Self-knowledge, Theory of -- Periodicals; Career development -- Periodicals; 370.15
• DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2018.1437408
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1462-3943

Abstract

Abstract: Reflective practice is recognised as an integral part of being a highly skilled and successful health care professional. Many benefits have been identified from being a reflective practitioner including the opportunity for critical thinking, growing self-awareness and supporting individual resilience. There is a growing body of literature recognising the negative emotional impact that caring for children with cancer and blood disorders can have on health professionals. Currently there is an emerging interest in a more strengths-based approach focused on maintaining staff wellbeing. Resilience has been suggested as a framework for coping and maintaining wellbeing in areas, like children's oncology and has been used as a term to describe the 'surviving' health professional. This paper explores the first author's (GA) experiences of being a children's oncology nurse and paediatric palliative care nurse specialist in the context of existing empirical and theoretical literature, with a particular focus on how GA developed resilience. Reflective examples of practice are used within the context of themes identified from a recent literature review exploring how resilience is defined within empirical literature.