Strengthening resilience and mental wellbeing through the Support4Resilience toolbox for leaders in elderly care

European elderly care experiences labor shortages, lack of qualified workers and a mismatch between capacity and demands, causing stress, burnout, and reduced mental wellbeing among healthcare workers and informal caregivers.

Leaders are crucial in promoting supportive working conditions but lack research-based measures to act upon these challenges.Support4Resilience (S4R) will develop, implement, and evaluate a research-based Toolbox to support healthcare leaders in improving healthcare workers’ and informal caregivers’ resilience and mental wellbeing in elderly care.

S4R will identify resilience and mental wellbeing factors among healthcare workers and informal caregivers; explore their perspectives and needs; develop new theory on the relationship between individual and organizational resilience, and mental wellbeing; and develop recommendations and cost-effective interventions.

The Toolbox with tailormade resources for policy and practical use will be available through an open access S4R Resource Bank.The S4R Toolbox includes three main tools: 1) Mapping and identification, 2) Reflection and education, and 3) Reorganization.

Measures are initiated at the organizational level and effects on mental wellbeing and resilience transpire at the frontline of elderly care. The Toolbox covers different situational contexts, types of healthcare providers and health system levels.

Elderly care settings in six European countries will implement and evaluate the Toolbox through a process evaluation, effectiveness evaluation, and cost-effectiveness evaluation.

S4R provides policymakers, decisions-makers and leaders with solutions for taking action to solve specific risks for healthcare workers’ and informal caregivers’ resilience and mental wellbeing.

Thus, pertinent to the work programme, S4R will support the development of resilient health systems in European elderly care through improved leadership capabilities, governance structures, and adaptive capacities.