Changes in Emotional Demands and Emotion Regulation as Described by Late-Career Nurses

This study explored how nurses aged 60 years and older, with at least 20 years of nursing experience, retrospectively described changes in emotional demands and emotion regulation across their careers.

A qualitative interview study using qualitative content analysis.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 active nurses aged 60 years or older in Sweden, each with at least 20 years of nursing experience. The study adhered to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research.

Three main categories were identified: professional and personal dimensions, workplace features, and societal transformations. Participants described increasing professional preparedness and more deliberate approaches to emotion regulation over time, alongside changing life circumstances, workplace conditions and societal transformations that shaped emotional demands and opportunities for emotion regulation.

Participants did not attribute changes in emotional demands and emotion regulation solely to chronological age but rather described them in relation to interconnected professional and personal dimensions, workplace features, and broader societal transformations.

The study challenges simplified age-based interpretations by showing how late-career nurses described emotional demands and emotion regulation in relation to changing professional and personal circumstances, workplace conditions and broader societal transformations over the course of long nursing careers. The findings may inform nursing research, leadership and organizational approaches to supporting emotional sustainability.

Leadership and organizational practices that acknowledge and address emotional demands within changing healthcare and societal conditions may better support emotional sustainability in nursing. Work design that accommodates changing work roles, recovery needs and opportunities for mentoring may support sustained participation across long nursing careers.

No patient or public contribution was applicable, as the study focused on nurses' experiences.