Resilient Nurses in Turbulent Times

This project explores how education can equip students to flourish during transitions. Within the Nursing program at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, an educational ecosystem is being developed that not only helps students withstand setbacks but also enables them to become stronger and more innovative through the inevitable challenges of healthcare. In this way, they develop the capacity to grow through difficulties, find new solutions, and strengthen personal resilience—rather than being limited by future adversity.

Students deserve an education that teaches them how to flourish in the world: the world needs them.

– Annemarie Bergsma 

Project Background

Healthcare professionals face increasing pressure due to staff shortages, lack of resources, and complex work environments, exacerbated by global challenges such as pandemics, climate change, and international tensions. These conditions call not only for solutions but also for a different way of learning and working: one in which difficulties are leveraged as catalysts for renewal.

This project, rooted in the Nursing program, explores what a future-oriented educational system could look like, one that prepares students to flourish in a professional field where challenges and transitions are part of everyday reality.

Aim

The project develops an educational ecosystem that teaches future nurses to grow through adversity and prepares them for a demanding healthcare environment.

Target Group

The nursing education will be developed together with nursing students and lecturers, nurses, managers, and former patients.

Method

This project combines qualitative and quantitative research. Together with students, lecturers, and other stakeholders, insights will be translated into educational principles, which will then be tested and refined in practice. In this way, a learning environment will be created that enables students to become stronger through challenges, with space for personal growth and tailored learning. 

Results

The expected results are concrete tools for designing an educational ecosystem that supports nursing students in developing lasting resilience. In doing so, they strengthen their health and well-being, and learn to use difficulties as opportunities for growth and innovation. Nurses thus develop into professionals who flourish both personally and professionally, and who contribute to a healthcare sector that is continuously renewed and strengthened. The tools developed will provide insight into the educational conditions that stimulate growth through adversity.

Impact

The project aims to contribute to education that better prepares nursing students for complex societal transitions and related healthcare challenges, by strengthening their resilience, adaptability, and innovative capacity. It will generate knowledge about the educational conditions that make this possible. In doing so, it contributes to broader insights into how education, in a regenerative way, can support people and other systems in global processes of change, enabling them to act flexibly and be future-ready.

More Information

For more information, please contact Annemarie Bergsma: [email protected] You can also find her profile on LinkedIn. 

Timeline

2025 – 2030 

Funding

The project is funded by a PhD voucher from The Hague University of Applied Sciences. 

Collaboration

This project is carried out in collaboration with Wageningen University. 

Team

• Annemarie Bergsma MSc, Research Group Sustainable Talent Development
• Dr. Ellen Sjoer, Research Group Sustainable Talent Development
• Dr. Miranda de Hei, Research Group Sustainable Talent Development
• Prof. Dr. Ir. Arjen Wals, Research Group Education and Learning Sciences, Wageningen School of Social Sciences, Wageningen University