Nursing is ranked among the highest-stress professions, with stress and burnout often beginning during nursing school. One in four (25%) undergraduate nursing students withdraw from the major, citing burnout as a leading factor. Providing undergraduate nursing students with resilience-building skills could potentially mitigate burnout, increase retention, and improve their mental health and well-being. One way to provide these skills is through a resilience-building course on health and wellness. 

This explanatory sequential mixed-method case study explored whether a new semester-long resilience-building course could reduce stress and improve resilience strategies among undergraduate nursing students. Drawing on Resilience Theory and the Universal Design for Learning framework, I analyzed three types of data: quantitative measures of students’ stress, qualitative open-ended survey responses, and semi-structured student interviews. Using a three-phase approach, I analyzed the data separately, then merged the datasets to identify main themes, convergences, and divergences. This approach allowed for more in-depth analysis, providing a better understanding of burnout and resilience among nursing students. Findings suggest course participation was associated with improved resilience and increased self-efficacy. Additionally, students credited the course with improving their peer networks, which aided resilience-building. These findings contribute to scholarship on resilience interventions by exploring the potential impact of a semester-long course on nursing students’ stress levels, perspectives, and lived experiences.