Nurse’s Journal Guidebook
The Josie King Foundation recognizes that along with experiencing the many joys of healing, nurses are also faced with issues such as death and dying, pain and suffering, complicated work environments related to new technologies, medical errors and near misses. All of these issues combined with the pressures of everyday life often can lead to stress and burnout.In an effort to help reduce stress and burnout that nurses may feel, we partnered with Nancy Morgan, MA, writing clinician and director of the Arts and Humanities Program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital and Diane Reukauf, Ph.D., counselor, and expressive writing facilitator to create the Nurse’s Journal Guidebook.
The Nurse’s Journal Guidebook was developed as a step-by-step guide for leading a Josie King Foundation Nurse’s Journal writing workshop. The guidebook was created to be easy to use and full of data (as we know nurses like data) explaining the beneficial effects that expressive writing can have not only in our work, but, more importantly in our lives.
Bring your nurses together, handing them the Nurse’s Journal and enjoy the camaraderie of a writing workshop. We bet they’ll thank you for it.
Contents
- Why this Guidebook was Developed
- Writing with Nurses
- Special Consideration for Journal Writing with Nurses
- Addressing Issues Related to Stress and Burnout
- Research on Stress and Burnout
- Expressive Writing: Research and Theories
- Benefits of Expressive Writing
- How Does it Work? Some Theories
- Writing Topics
- Timing of Beneficial Effects
- Number and Length of Writing Sessions
- Workshop Preparation
- Setting
- Number of Participants
- Workshop Length
- Taking Precautions Regarding Emotional Expression
- Workshop Script for Facilitators
- Josie King Nurse’s Journal Workshop Evaluation Tools
- Expressive Writing Evaluation Form – Single Session
- Facilitator’s Notes
- Next Steps: Establishing a Workshop Series
- Writing Topics for Nurse’s Journal Blank Pages
- Poems as Prompts
- Recommended Poems
- References
- Notes
For More Information
To Order
We suggest a donation of $50 per Nurse’s Journal Guidebook. Please email nursing@josieking.org to place an order.
Nurses and Community Service
According to the National Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2023, there are over 4 million registered nurses in the United States. However, it’s alarming to know that over 50% of them are not directly engaged in community service, as per the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.