Compassionate healthcare can be challenging for practitioners to deliver day after day in a context of tight budgets and targets. This text compiles what we know about how healthcare professionals can look after themselves to order to maintain and develop their compassionate healthcare practice. It explores thinking around stress management, resilience, wellbeing and positivity, presenting and critiquing the evidence base for these key concepts. Illustrated with numerous case studies and examples, the authors conclude with their framework - RESPECT - for practice.

Claire Chambers teaches on the Open University nursing programme. She is a health visitor and nurse and has led public health and community practice programmes at Oxford Brookes University.

Elaine Ryder works for Age UK with older people with mental health needs. She has a nursing and district nursing background and has led community practice programmes at Oxford Brookes University.

Foreword

Preface

About the authors

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. A compassionate care environment - what does this mean for patients and clients?

Chapter 2. A compassionate care environment - what does this mean for practitioners?

Chapter 3. The benefits of effective stress management strategies

Chapter 4. The benefits of resilience

Chapter 5. The benefits of wellbeing

Chapter 6. The benefits of positivity

Chapter 7. The benefits of compassion for patients, clients and practitioners