Nursing and enacting the courage of one’s convictions

In contemporary workplaces many difficulties and ethical dilemmas require health professionals to think carefully, muster courage, and take considered and appropriate action, even if it is not what custom endorses. Gruber (2011, p. 274) defines courage as “the cognitive, voluntary mental process used to enact change on a stable system for the intention of a positive outcome.” Even in the face of fear, a person acting courageously has to think clearly to judge the right course of action. Courage involves persevering through adversity and the resistance of others, for a greater good than exists at present, even though the actor is likely to experience apprehension, uncertainty, or anxiety (Gruber, 2011; Pianalto, 2012; Pury & Hensel, 2010; Sekerka, Bagozzi, & Charnigo, 2009). Most definitions of courage include two major aspects: working to improve something for the good of others and purposeful perseverance through opposition.