Antecedents for crafting a sense of coherence among healthcare employees

Job crafting-an active form of job redesign-has been widely studied within healthcare in recent years, possibly because of its many positive outcomes in this context. Job crafting can be described as actions to redesign a current work situation to increase the fit of a person's abilities, resources, and desires. Among the positive consequences of job crafting are employee well-being, work engagement, and a productive workforce. The Swedish healthcare sector struggles with challenging work environments and staff shortages, and health-promoting activities can thus be particularly important for employees' wellbeing. To identify antecedents of job crafting that can promote well-being within public healthcare, semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees and managers in five different healthcare departments. Departments with daytime activities only and 24/7 operations were represented in the study. On an individual level, being a driven person as well as focusing on the patient were found to precede health-promoting job crafting. Being a driven person indicates an ability to deal with restrictive work conditions, such as a lack of support among colleagues and managers, for those who choose to craft their jobs. Working autonomously or in cross-professional teams were contextual antecedents that led to a more comprehensible work situation and different degrees of perceived freedom in work. Utilizing these degrees of freedom through job crafting strategies with the patient's best interests in mind led to a work situation that was considered more manageable and meaningful. When planning how to facilitate health-promoting job crafting among healthcare employees, it is recommended to keep in mind that job crafting antecedents seem to interplay on different organizational and individual levels.