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Background & Aim: Exposure to high stress in the work environment among the intensive care unit nurses results in leaving the profession and their unwillingness to continue their activities. This is one of the major challenges in the nursing profession and has a great effect on the effectiveness of health systems. Despite the importance of resilience, there is few studies on the intensive care unit nurses’ resilience. The aim of this study was to determine resilience and its association with the intensive care unit nurses’ intention to leave their profession.
Methods & Materials: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive analytical study on 400 nurses working in the intensive care units of teaching hospitals affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 2016. Data were collected through a modified form of Anticipated Turnover Scale designed by liou and a summarized form of Connor-Davidson’s resilience scale". Descriptive and inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis) were used for data analysis through SPSS version 13.
Results: The mean rank for intention to leave and resilience was 2.83 (IQR: 0.67) and 25.50 (IQR: 8) respectively. Also, there was a negative, significant correlation between resilience and intention to leave (P<0.001, R=-0.173).
Conclusion: Considering the rate of intention to leave the profession, more attention is needed to the factors affecting the intention to leave. In addition, due to the significant relationship between resilience and intention to leave, incorporating resilience-promoting strategies into nursing curriculum is recommended.