Though nothing will keep us together : mixed methods study of nurses’ meaning in life and work

In the healthcare arena, emergency nurses may live intense and overwhelming events affecting their meaning in work. Meaning in work represents the reason of why nurses work and endow their work with importance. However, traumatic, and prolonged-stress conditions can challenge not only the individuals’ quest for meaning in work but also their quest for meaning in life. We examined factors influencing subjective wellbeing and meaning in life and work in emergency nurses. A mixed methods study design was utilised by collecting from a sample of emergency nurses both quantitative (n = 200) and qualitative data (n = 9). With the use of a cross-sectional study data on the meaning in life, meaning in work, stress-levels, and attitude towards death in nurses were collected. Autobiographic stories of nurses examined the lived experience of nurses. Quantitative findings indicated that nurses’ lower levels of meaning in work and meaning in life were positively related to detrimental levels of stress and their attitude towards death. Qualitative data indicated that despite favourable experience of meaning, nurses’ stories emphasized self-perceived barriers, including organizational constraints preventing them from disengaging from intrusive thoughts with co-workers’ relation disadvantages.