Relation and effect of resilience on burnout in nurses: A literature review and meta‐analysis
verifiedrich profile · International Nursing Review · 2023
Castillo‐González, Andrea; Velando‐Soriano, Almudena; De La Fuente‐Solana, Emilia I.; Martos‐Cabrera, Begoña M.; Membrive‐Jiménez, María José; Lucía, Ramírez‐Baena; Cañadas‐De La Fuente, Guillermo A.
How this was studied
A meta-analytic synthesis — it pools many primary studies rather than running a single design, so there is no single-study diagram.
What this article reports
The findings we extracted from this work, normalized into Principia’s relationship form (X → Y). Each feeds the synthesized models below.
resilience → burnout
resilience → emotional exhaustion
resilience → depersonalization
resilience → burnout
resilience → personal accomplishment
Models this article informs
The meta-analytic priors this article contributes evidence to — its place in the broader synthesis.
resilience correlates burnout
resilience correlates depersonalization
resilience correlates emotional exhaustion
resilience correlates personal accomplishment
resilience predicts burnout
resilience predicts emotional exhaustion
In the authors’ words
The article’s own abstract.
AIM: To study the relation between burnout and resilience and to identify the profile of nurses presenting this quality. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION: Healthcare professionals are subject to high rates of burnout. Resilience could be an important factor in preventing or alleviating this condition. METHODS: The PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases were consulted in February 2022 using the equation 'burnout AND resilience AND nurs*'. The inclusion criteria applied were that the texts should describe quantitative studies, be published in English or Spanish, in any year, and be directly related to the question considered. The meta-analysis was performed using StatsDirect statistical software. RESULTS: Analysis of the 29 studies shows that among the dimensions of burnout, nurses are especially prone to emotional exhaustion, and are less affected by depersonalisation and low personal accomplishment. Those who score highly for resilience tend to have longer service experience, acceptable salaries and less work overload. Meta-analysis reveals an inverse correlation between resilience and burnout (r = -0.41; n = 2750), exhaustion (r = -0.27; n = 6966) and depersonalisation (r = -0.23; n = 6115). CONCLUSION: Many nurses present low levels of resilience and suffer from burnout syndrome. The application of programmes to enhance their resilience would help prevent burnout and optimise the potential to provide quality health care. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: Resilience is inversely correlated with burnout, depersonalisation and emotional exhaustion. Accordingly, healthcare organisations should develop and implement evidence-based programmes to foster nurses' resilience and thus reduce their susceptibility to burnout.
What the literature says about it
Attributed, open-access quotes from other works that cite this article, plus the citation-graph verdict tally. Corroborations and disputes, in one place — the honest-broker view.
supports “Resilience refers to the ability to cope with adversity, overcome difficulties, and recover from set-backs [14, 15], and it has been shown to alleviate anxiety, depression, and burnout among nurses in high-pressure settings [16, 17].”
supports “The results of the meta-analysis by Castillo-Gonzalez et al. indicated that a significant portion of nurses suffer from or are at risk of burnout syndrome, likely due to their low levels of resilience [32].”
supports “Given the interrelated and mutually reinforcing nature of coping skills, social support, mindfulness, stress management, burnout, and resilience [4, 8], assessing individual resilience can be achieved by measuring these interconnected factors.”
supports “The meta-analysis [56] showed moderate inverse correlations between resilience and burnout, exhaustion, and depersonalisation among nurses.”
supports “Studies indicate that resilience contributes to reducing emotional strain and burnout, as professionals with higher levels of this competency demonstrate greater adaptability to stressors and lower levels of emotional exhaustion [29, 30].”
supports “Resilience has been linked to lower emotional exhaustion, better emotion regulation, and greater self-protective functioning 48,75–77 , and it is further negatively associated with maladaptive learning outcomes and poorer academic functioning 78–81 .”
supports “Studies indicate that resilience contributes to reducing emotional strain and burnout, as professionals with higher levels of this competency demonstrate greater adaptability to stressors and lower levels of emotional exhaustion [29, 30].”
Ancillary research
Neighbouring works in the citation graph around this article.
- 10.1186/s12912-025-04115-4
- 10.1186/s12912-025-04223-1
- 10.1186/s13049-025-01397-0
- 10.1007/s44202-025-00345-4
- 10.1186/s12909-026-09339-9
- 10.1038/s41598-026-45914-2
Assembled from Principia’s registry — bibliographic record, extracted effect sizes, the models they inform, and open-access citing literature.