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Well-Being & Resilience

AACN actively promotes best practices and exemplars related to faculty and student wellness in our programming. The following provides an overview of AACN’s initiatives and programs related to maintaining health and well-being:

group of nurses' hands joining

Advocacy

May 23 - New Surgeon General Advisory Sounds Alarm on Health Worker Burnout and Resignation
The Surgeon General’s Advisory Addressing Health Worker Burnout lays out recommendations that the whole-of-society can take to address the factors underpinning burnout, improve health worker well-being, and strengthen the nation’s public health infrastructure.  Click here to view Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's advisory video.

Congressional Conversations on Mental Health

AACN attended multiple Congressional hearings on rising mental health concerns throughout the nation, including:

  • On March 23, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing titled, Strengthening Federal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Programs: Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Issues. Panelists highlighted the importance of funding for federal programs that support mental health for patients and providers. Click here to view the hearing
     
  • On March 29, the Senate Finance Committee released a bipartisan report on mental health care in America. The report highlights current issues, such as accessing quality mental health care, and outlines crucial next steps in ending the mental health crisis in the United States. Click here to view the full report.
     
  • On March 30, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing titled, Behavioral Health Care When Americans Need It: Ensuring Parity and Care Integration. Panelists highlighted the importance and need of accessing timely, high-quality care and creating innovative solutions for mental health care for all. Click here to view the hearing.
     
  • On April 5, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing titled, Communities in Need: Legislation to Support Mental Health and Well-Being. This hearing focused on how current legislation can help support the mental health crisis faced by children, adolescents, and adults across the country. Witnesses addressed the ongoing mental health crisis, including how social determinants of health disproportionately impact different populations. Click here to view the hearing.

Member Resolution

A Call to Action for Academic Nurse Leaders to Promote Practices to Enhance Optimal Well-being, Resilience and Suicide Prevention in Schools of Nursing across the U.S.

In August 2020, AACN’s members voted to endorse a resolution that promotes the mental health, physical health, healthy lifestyle behaviors, and well-being of students, faculty, and staff. This call to action includes schools of nursing transitioning from crisis intervention to prevention by building wellness cultures; offering mental health screenings or providing access to them at their supporting institutions; conducting wellness, healthy lifestyle and resiliency programming; and implementing evidence-based interventions to prevent and intervene early for depression, anxiety, and stress in order to support a healthy working and living environment for students, staff, and faculty.


Partnerships and Leadership Engagement

In May 2021, AACN was invited by the Johnson & Johnson Center on Health Workforce Innovation to serve as a collaborator on a national campaign to promote resilience and wellness in the healthcare workforce called All-In WellBeing First for Healthcare. The All-In campaign is bringing leading organizations together – including the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, American Nurses Foundation, American Organization for Nursing Leadership, the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, and AACN – to identify a future state where the healthcare workforce feels valued and can sustain a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. The campaign is working to identify and promote strategies, resources, and policies that champion mental health and resilience.


Curricula

New Essentials Domain 10: Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development
This domain calls for new ways of preparing nursing graduates using activities and self-reflection that foster personal health, resilience, and well-being, as well as the acquisition of nursing expertise and the assertion of leadership. Competency expectations include:

  • Demonstrate healthy, self-care behaviors that promote wellness and resiliency
  • Contribute to an environment that promotes self-care, personal health, and well-being
  • Evaluate the workplace environment to determine level of health and well-being
  • Engage in guided and spontaneous reflection of one’s practice

Leadership Development Programs

AACN’s leadership development programs also are committed to elevating awareness of program elements addressing well-being.


 

In The News

Below is a sampling of research studies, news articles, and reports focused on mental health, well-being, and resilience compiled from AACN News Watch.

10 Ways to Build Psychological Safety at Work
Cynthia Clark | Sigma Nursing Centered
November 29, 2022

The Global Mental Health Nursing Workforce: Time to Prioritize and Invest in Mental Health and Wellbeing
International Council of Nurses
October 10, 2022

National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being
National Academy of Medicine
October 3, 2022

Nurses Suffering in Silence: Addressing the Stigma o fMental Health in Nursing and Healthcare
Nursing Management
August 2022

Pulse on the Nation's Nureses Survey Series: 2022 Workplace Survey
American Nurses Foundation
August 2, 2022

Nursing Workforce Challenges in the Postpandemic World
Journal of Nursing Regulation
July 1, 2022

Amid Shortages and Burnout, Could Adding More Men Ease the Nation's Nursing Woes?
US News and World Report
April 28, 2022

AACN Leads Effort to Prepare New Nurses with Stronger Skills in Leadership, Resilience, and Well-Being
March 25, 2022

A New Resource Promoting Nurse Well-Being from the NAM's Future of Nursing 2030
The National Academies of Medicine
January 29, 2022

Nurses Struggle through a New COVID Wave with Rage and Compassion
Scientific American
January 11, 2022

Your Mask Comes First: Nurses Overwhelmed by COVID Need Support
The Hill
December 10, 2021

Is Resilience Training the Answer to Burnout?
Journal of Professional Nursing
December 6, 2021

Why the US Nursing Crisis is Getting Worse
Vox
November 8, 2021

Pulse of the Nation's Nursing Survey Series: Mental Health and Wellness
American Nurses Foundation
October 13, 2021

National Study on Faculty and Administrators' Perceptions of Civility and Incivility in Nursing Education
Nurse Educator
September/October 2021

Building a Resilient Nursing Workforce
Knox News
September 16, 2021

Prevention and Treatment of Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among College Students
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
September 2021

Well-Being and Resilience Among Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study
American Journal of Nursing
August 2021

Mind the Gap: Preparing Nurses to Practice with Resilience & Integrity
Resilient Nurses Initiative
June 2021

What Will Weary Faculty Members Need Post-Pandemic?
The Chronicle of Higher Education
May 5, 2021

Critical Care Nurses’ Physical and Mental Health, Worksite Wellness Support, and Medical Errors
American Journal of Critical Care
May 2021

COVID-19: Impact on Nurses and Nursing
American Journal of Nursing
May 2021

Workplaces Can Change the World
Sigma Nursing Centered Blog
April 8, 2021

Good Grades, Stressed Students
The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 17, 2021

A Survey of Mental Health in Graduate Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Nurse Educator
March 12, 2021

COVID-19 Is ‘Probably Going to End My Career.
New York Times
February 25, 2021

Upcoming Webinars & Programs

  • More Coming Soon!

On-Demand Learning Opportunities

On-Demand Webinars

Teaching Professional Identity in Nursing: A Faculty Perspective

Developing Emotional and Social Intelligence— What Is This and Why Should I Care?

Leading with Compassion: Insights from Nursing's Academic and Practice Leaders

The Nursing Crisis: Confronting Distress, Burnout, and Moral Injury

Self Preservation: Practicing Radical Self-Care During Difficult Times

Balancing School, Work, and Life for Your First Year as a Graduate Student

National Study on Civility and Incivility in Nursing: Lessons from the Field

Promoting Health & Well-Being Within & Across Health Professions Learners

Resiliency and Self-Care

COVID-19: Promoting Resilience in Times of Crisis

Creating Calm and Civility during Uncertain Times

Addressing the Collective Mental Health Burden Imposed by COVID-19

Boosting Resiliency and Well-being during COVID-19: Evidence-based Interventions

Recorded Conference Sessions

2023 Doctoral Education Conference

Transform 2022

2022 Deans Annual Meeting

2022 CNL Summit

Transform 2021

2021 Faculty Development Pre-Conference

2021 Academic Nursing Leadership Conference

2020 Academic Nursing Leadership Conference

2021 Doctoral Conference

2020 Doctoral Conference

2019 Baccalaureate Conference

What's New

AACN Selects 10 Nursing Schools to Pilot Learning Strategies to
Build Leadership and Resilience Skills in New Nurses

December 15, 2022

2022 AACN Thought Leaders Assembly
Excellence in Academic Nursing: Addressing Well-Being to Prepare Tomorrow’s
Nursing Workforce