Abstract
Background: Working in the labor and delivery unit is not always joyful. Labor & delivery (L&D) nurses often encounter traumatic childbirth events (TCE) that may result in serious injury or death to the mother or child. A recent systematic review of the perceived impact of birth trauma found that 3-46% of clinicians met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (Uddin et al., 2022). While only 26.7% of registered nurses (RNs) report that TCE had a high influence on personal life as compared to certified nurse-midwives (52.9%) or attending physicians (50%) (Robinson et al., 2023). The role of resilience has not been thoroughly explored in L&D nurses.
Purpose: The study describes resilience scores among L&D RNs who have encountered traumatic childbirth events. Additionally, how resilience varies by demographic and work characteristics is explored.
Methods: L&D RNs working in five maternity units in Maryland participated in an anonymous survey through an emailed web link. The survey assessed TCE (frequency, severity, and impact on personal and professional life) and resilience (measured using the 25-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale). Linear mixed models were used to explore variations in resilience by hospitals.
Results: 102 L&D nurses participated; all identified as female gender. Most (67%) were Caucasian, ages 21-34 (52.9%). Participants had a mean resilience score of (M= 74.4, SD= 11.3), and 97% reported experiencing at least one TCE during their careers. RNs age 55 and older were most resilient and had significantly higher resilience scores than RNs 35-54 (p=.013). Yet, a monotonic pattern was not observed; RNs aged 21-34 had higher resilience (M=75.0, SD=12.5) than RNs aged 35-54 (M=72.4, SD= 9.8). Similarly, nurses with 21 or more years of experience had significantly higher resilience than RNs with three years or less experience (p=.02). When exploring resilience and years of work experience, another non-monotonic pattern was observed. RNs with 4-5 years of experience had noticeably higher resilience scores (M= 78.0, SD=10.5) compared to RNs with 16-20 years of experience (M= 70.0, SD= 7.2). Resilience was not significantly related to race, full-time work, or perception of TCE's impact on personal or professional life.
Conclusion: L&D nurses do encounter TCEs, although they do not have as high an impact on personal and professional life as other OB clinicians. Resilience varied by age and experience. This finding is consistent with other studies of clinicians (Aldarmasi, 2022). In a larger longitudinal study, further exploration is needed to explore these relationships and the role debriefing may play in resilience.
Notes
Reference list included in attached slide deck.
Sigma Membership
Phi
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Cross-Sectional
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Resilience, Labor and Delivery, Registered Nurses, Perinatal Nursing, Childbirth -- Psychosocial Factors, Psychological Resilience
Recommended Citation
Robinson, Keisha Aisha, "Cross-Sectional Study of Resilience in Labor & Delivery Nurses" (2026). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 60.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2024/presentations_2024/60
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Washington, DC, USA
Conference Year
2024
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-02-19
Cross-Sectional Study of Resilience in Labor & Delivery Nurses
Washington, DC, USA
Background: Working in the labor and delivery unit is not always joyful. Labor & delivery (L&D) nurses often encounter traumatic childbirth events (TCE) that may result in serious injury or death to the mother or child. A recent systematic review of the perceived impact of birth trauma found that 3-46% of clinicians met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (Uddin et al., 2022). While only 26.7% of registered nurses (RNs) report that TCE had a high influence on personal life as compared to certified nurse-midwives (52.9%) or attending physicians (50%) (Robinson et al., 2023). The role of resilience has not been thoroughly explored in L&D nurses.
Purpose: The study describes resilience scores among L&D RNs who have encountered traumatic childbirth events. Additionally, how resilience varies by demographic and work characteristics is explored.
Methods: L&D RNs working in five maternity units in Maryland participated in an anonymous survey through an emailed web link. The survey assessed TCE (frequency, severity, and impact on personal and professional life) and resilience (measured using the 25-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale). Linear mixed models were used to explore variations in resilience by hospitals.
Results: 102 L&D nurses participated; all identified as female gender. Most (67%) were Caucasian, ages 21-34 (52.9%). Participants had a mean resilience score of (M= 74.4, SD= 11.3), and 97% reported experiencing at least one TCE during their careers. RNs age 55 and older were most resilient and had significantly higher resilience scores than RNs 35-54 (p=.013). Yet, a monotonic pattern was not observed; RNs aged 21-34 had higher resilience (M=75.0, SD=12.5) than RNs aged 35-54 (M=72.4, SD= 9.8). Similarly, nurses with 21 or more years of experience had significantly higher resilience than RNs with three years or less experience (p=.02). When exploring resilience and years of work experience, another non-monotonic pattern was observed. RNs with 4-5 years of experience had noticeably higher resilience scores (M= 78.0, SD=10.5) compared to RNs with 16-20 years of experience (M= 70.0, SD= 7.2). Resilience was not significantly related to race, full-time work, or perception of TCE's impact on personal or professional life.
Conclusion: L&D nurses do encounter TCEs, although they do not have as high an impact on personal and professional life as other OB clinicians. Resilience varied by age and experience. This finding is consistent with other studies of clinicians (Aldarmasi, 2022). In a larger longitudinal study, further exploration is needed to explore these relationships and the role debriefing may play in resilience.
Description
This presentation describes resilience scores among 102 labor and delivery RNs who have encountered traumatic childbirth events. The abstract also describes how resilience varies by demographic and work characteristics. Participants were recruited from five hospitals in Baltimore, Maryland.