Caring Resilience: Filipino Nurses’ Lived Experiences of Mental Well‑Being in a Foreign Healthcare Setting after the COVID‑19 Pandemic

Filipino nurses continue to face enduring mental health challenges shaped by their COVID‑19 pandemic experiences and ongoing workplace stressors, particularly when working in foreign healthcare systems. This qualitative descriptive phenomenological study explored how ten Filipino nurses experienced and navigated their mental well‑being during and after the COVID‑19 pandemic while employed abroad. Through in‑depth interviews and Colaizzi‑based analysis, four overarching themes emerged: Enduring the Storm, Anchors of Strength, Reclaiming Balance, and Transformative Resilience, capturing a trajectory from fear, exhaustion, and grief toward renewed hope and growth. Family support, collegial solidarity, spiritual grounding, and intentional self‑care were central anchors that facilitated recovery, while organizational support was vital yet inconsistently perceived. The findings underscored that recovery is cyclical rather than linear and informed the development of a Caring Resilience Model for Nurses’ Well‑Being, which reframes resilience as a caring, relational, and systems‑supported process. This model highlights the need for institutions to prioritize nurses’ mental well‑being through supportive leadership, psychologically safe environments, and accessible mental health resources to sustain compassionate and effective care.