The purpose of this qualitative exploratory research study was to provide an in-depth exploration of resilience in the field of palliative care. The main research question was: “What are the experiences of healthcare providers in the field of palliative care who care for clients that are dying and how do they understand resilience?” Informed by an interpretivism paradigm, the study used a narrative inquiry based research approach to conduct ten in-depth interviews with healthcare providers that allowed their voices to be heard.

Four key themes emerged from the findings: the impact of the first death - a shift from blame to purpose driven resilience, the meaning of resilience – a trait and process definition, maintaining resilience and the notion of the good death. The importance of self-care, spirituality and an interdisciplinary team are also discussed.

The study identifies self-fulfillment that one receives by working in this field as one of the greatest contributors to maintaining resilience. This study flags the lack of social workers in the field of palliative care as well as the need for more education and awareness amongst healthcare providers and society as a whole.