Towards a sustainable working life for registered nurses in a hospital setting: Factors explaining why they remain in work and profession – A salutogenic interview study

Abstract

Background There is extensive research on how nurses experience their working conditions and environment; this research shows high job stress, job dissatisfaction and intention to leave the workplace. The aim was to describe and explore success factors explaining why hospital nurses remain in work and profession. Methods A qualitative, descriptive and explorative study based on a theory-driven (the salutogenic theory by Antonovsky) approach was conducted. Data collection took place from March to June 2018. Individual semi-structured interviews with twelve registered nurses working in a hospital in western Sweden were conducted. The sense of coherence and its three dimensions, comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness, were used as a tool to structure the analyses of the qualitative data. Hence, a deductive (theory-driven) and an inductive (datadriven) approach with qualitative content analysis of manifest and latent content were used. ResultsThe results showed that a sense of meaningfulness, manageability and comprehensibility involved the factors having fun at work, being acknowledged, feeling togetherness in the team, having varying tasks with a manageable workload, good interaction between colleagues and patients, doing good work, feeling committed to and pride in the professional role, and having a balance between work and leisure time. Conclusions One precondition of improving registered nurses' health and well-being was having clear leadership. Another precondition was having a sense of coherence in relation to both the working group and the organization. Experiencing job satisfaction and being acknowledged for one's good work were important; acknowledgement was received not only from patients, but also from colleagues, other professionals and the nurse manager. In this way, the nurses felt acknowledged and could create a sense of meaningfulness, manageability and comprehensibility in their work.