In the U.S., Springer Publishing and Dr. Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk have made MINDBODYSTRONG™ available, an evidence-based digital mental fitness program for nurses and other healthcare professionals. The launch coincides with National Nurse Practitioner Week, and the program is designed to help clinicians build resilience, manage stress and protect their well-being.
Springer Publishing, a provider of healthcare education and professional development solutions, offers the program through its CourseConnect digital learning platform. The seven-session program teaches cognitive-behavioral skills that healthcare professionals can apply in their personal and professional lives. Its self-paced format is aimed at busy clinicians.
Program design and focus#
National Nurse Practitioner Week honors nurse practitioners (NPs) who expand access to care across the country. Melnyk created MINDBODYSTRONG for clinicians who care for others, often at a cost to their own mental health.
The program’s short, self-paced modules teach skills for managing stress, building resilience and protecting well-being. The modules are designed to fit around clinical schedules. MINDBODYSTRONG is organized around three foundational concepts.
“NP Week is a moment to thank nurse practitioners and nurses, but appreciation has to be followed by real support. Mental fitness is a skill that can be learned and practiced, and every clinician deserves evidence-based tools to protect their well-being,” said Melnyk.
Trial and research findings#
A 2026 randomized controlled trial involved 501 nurses experiencing distress. The study found that:
- Participants who received the self-delivered, video-based MINDBODYSTRONG program, alongside mental health screening and referral, had approximately 30% lower relative risk of anxiety and depression than nurses who received screening and referral alone.
- Participants showed significantly greater improvements in healthy lifestyle beliefs and behaviors at three and six months.
The findings were published in Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing (Melnyk BM, et al., 2026; DOI 10.1111/wvn.70171).
A separate study involved 89 newly licensed nurses in a nurse residency program at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Those participants showed moderate to large improvements in mental health outcomes and job satisfaction, with effects sustained at six months.
Workforce pressures#
According to the 2026 NSI Nursing Solutions National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, national staff registered nurse (RN) turnover reached 17.6% in 2025. The average replacement cost was $60,090 per bedside RN.
The announcement links these workforce challenges to organizational investment in clinician well-being, professional development and support.
Access for individuals and organizations#
MINDBODYSTRONG is available to individual healthcare professionals, as well as to hospitals, health systems, nurse residency programs and academic institutions. Individual clinicians can purchase access through Springer Publishing.
Healthcare organizations can:
- Explore institutional access
- Request a demonstration
- Discuss opportunities for pilot implementation
- Incorporate mental fitness training into nurse residency programs, workforce development initiatives and broader clinician well-being strategies, without requiring dedicated facilitators
“Springer Publishing has supported nurses and nurse practitioners throughout their careers, and partnering with Dr. Melnyk lets us offer something nurses have asked for: a proven, practical way to care for themselves,” said Frank Costanzo, Vice President of Business Development and Sales at Springer Publishing. “We are proud to bring her work to clinicians and the organizations that employ them.”
MINDBODYSTRONG is a skills-building program and is not a substitute for therapy, an employee assistance program, or emergency care.
About the developer and publisher#
Dr. Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP, EBP-C, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, is a nationally recognized leader in evidence-based practice and clinician well-being. She is academy professor emeritus at The Ohio State University, where she served as Vice President for Health Promotion, University Chief Wellness Officer, and Dean of the College of Nursing. She developed the COPE, MINDSTRONG™ and MINDBODYSTRONG™ family of cognitive-behavioral skills-building programs and has led the clinical trials behind them.
Springer Publishing is an award-winning healthcare education company specializing in personalized learning experiences for nursing, behavioral health and health sciences education. Its digital learning platforms include CourseConnect and ExamPrepConnect.
