First Advisor

Kathleen S. Whalen

College

Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

School

Regis University

Division

Loretto Heights School of Nursing

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

66 pages

Abstract

Nursing faculty are relied upon to prepare the nursing workforce of the future. The stress and pressure felt by nursing faculty impacts their ability to practice self-care, and this threatens their ability to perform optimally. Lack of self-care can lead to diminished quality of life, and ultimately burnout. Feelings of burnout and decreased quality of life, which are precursors to faculty turnover, further perpetuates the nursing shortage. A Quality Improvement (QI) Pilot Initiative, with an evidence-based design methodology was implemented within one university’s nursing department, located in a western state, to address this problem. Using a pre-post survey design and purposive sampling, fifteen (N=15, sample size n=9) full-time nursing faculty were invited to participate in a self-care intervention plan. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educator Survey (MBI-ES) and the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) Toolkit, consisting of 50 questions, was administered to measure for differences in faculty perceptions of burnout and quality of worklife. A paired sample t-test was done to compare and identify differences between the pre- and post-test scores for the AWS + MBI-ES. The analysis indicated a difference between the mean scores that was not statistically significant, but there was a shift in the mean score that occurred across the six AWS subscales and all three MBI-ES indicators. The thematic analysis revealed four emergent themes: burnout and stress, quality of work-life balance/environment, self-care/compassion and mindfulness, and resilience and spirituality. Limitations of the study included exclusivity of one nursing department, sample size, homogeneity of sample, and limited duration of project. The findings of this project support future focus on nursing faculty self-care practices: to increase retention and resiliency, to model best practices and integration into curriculum, and to attract students to the nursing educator track.

Key words: DNP Project, Nursing Faculty, Self-Care Impact, Burnout, Quality of Life

Date of Award

Spring 2023

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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