LAUSR

I t can be exhausting to be a nursing student. Completing a nursing education program requires balancing time for classes, studying, personal and family responsibilities, and self-care. Nursing students have a limited amount of time to juggle these demands and manage their stress. Nurse educators can help students reduce stress and foster goal achievement by identifying positive character strengths. According to Peterson and Seligman, positive character strengths are based on 6 virtues: (1) wisdom (creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, and perspective); (2) courage (bravery, perseverance, honesty, and zest); (3) humanity (love, kindness, and social intelligence); (4) justice (teamwork, fairness, and leadership); (5) temperance (forgiveness, humility, prudence, and self-regulation); and (6) transcendence (appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality). These virtues were used to spot positive character strengths for a cohort of undergraduate nursing students during a clinical experience. The instructor observed each nursing student in action, spotted their top strengths, then used real-time private feedback to share those observations individually with each student. Most students were surprised to hear what strengths were identified, as they did not recognize these in themselves. After hearing their strengths, the nursing students verbalized feeling more valued, positive, and connected to their learning. By sharing strengths of students, nurse educators can cultivate a positive educational experience for them to thrive and flourish.