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


METHODS
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.


METHODS
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.


RESULTS
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).


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Utriainen
Kati
K
University of Oulu, Institute of Health Sciences, Oulu, Finland. kati.utriainen@oulu.fi
Kyngäs
Helvi
H
Nikkilä
Juhani
J
D000375:Aging; D001110:Arctic Regions; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D016272:Occupational Health; D010564:Personnel, Hospital