Well-being at work among ageing hospital nurses in Northern Finland: a grounded theory study

The aim of this study was to create a substantive theory of the well-being at work among ageing hospital nurses in Northern Finland.

A grounded theory study. Well-being at work was studied from a positive viewpoint to determine what evoked well-being on the job. The aim was to discover core processes of the phenomenon based on nurses' authentic experiences.

The subjects of this study (n = 21) were nurses working at a university hospital in Northern Finland, aged 45-55 years with at least 10 years of hospital work experience, doing 3-shift work. The material consisted of first-phase open interviews (n = 4) and diary entries (n = 4), and of second-phase interviews (n = 4) and open-data collection forms (n = 9) based on these, according to theoretical sampling. The material was studied using a constant comparison analysis.

The core process of the well-being at work of ageing hospital nurses was found to be reciprocity in relation to colleagues (nurse-nurse interaction) and patients (nurse-patient interaction).

Communal aspects were the characteristic features of well-being at work, which were grounded in the surrounding community. Well-being at work was linked to its target, and patient care was found to be the basis of nurses' well-being at work.