ABSTRACT
Written emotional disclosure allows a person the opportunity to construct their trauma narrative, reflect on the trauma experience, and reconstruct meaning with the experience. Expressive writing and written exposure therapy are two forms of emotional disclosure that have been used successfully in trauma populations. Writing a trauma narrative is particularly helpful when a person is having a hard time articulating the experience and engaging in a way that allows the cognitive processing that is needed for healing. Chapter 5 will discuss the use of writing by nurses to improve resilience and mitigate symptoms of distress that results from traumatic or stressful patient care experiences. Nurses who participated in a pilot written exposure therapy resilience intervention will share their narratives, describing their struggles in their professional roles. The remainder of the chapter will be dedicated toward developing your own writing practice to improve wellbeing and satisfaction within the workplace. Nursing-related writing prompts will be provided, and detailed instructions for a four-day writing protocol, developed by James Pennebaker and John Evans, is included as a writing tool to help cope with work-related trauma and stress.
