Challenges of respect as promoting healthy work environment in nursing: A qualitative study

An increasingly common complaint of staff nurses in hospitals is not receiving respect. One of the strategies to create a healthy and positive work environment is to strengthen the respectful behaviors among nurses.

This study aims to explore the barriers of respect in nursing workplace.

This qualitative content analysis was carried out at the School of Nursing and Midwifery of Golestan University of Medical Sciences.

The semi-structured interview method was employed in this qualitative study on 14 nursing staff in 2018. We transcribed the interviews verbatim and analyzed them using the conventional content analysis approach.

Data analysis led to the emergence of 377 primary codes, 13 categories, and 4 themes. The four themes were as follows: (a) feeling of ignored; (b) socio-cultural conditions in society; (c) lack of Support by Managers; (d) poor organizational climate.

Nursing managers can promote a healthy work environment in the nursing workplace through recognizing these challenges and applying mitigation strategies and take benefits of their consequences such as self-efficacy, self-confidence, and organizational commitment.