Exploring salutogenesis as a concept of health and wellbeing in nurses who thrive professionally

Abstract

Aim: To determine whether salutogenesis, a concept of health and wellbeing, can be identified in nurses who self-describe as thriving professionally.

Background: Nurse burnout can potentially impact clinical performance, patient safety, and increase the turnover of nurses, which all contribute to additional healthcare costs. The ability to not only avoid burnout, but to thrive in stressful environments is an important factor worth exploring. The salutogenic concept is related to this.

Method: This was a mixed-method, exploratory, descriptive study involving 12 volunteer nurses.

Results: Qualitative data analysis revealed the following main themes: 'other people', 'passion', 'coping mechanisms', 'personal characteristics' and 'time'. Quantitative data revealed the average sense of coherence (SOC) score, which measures a person's perceived health, was 73.58 out of a possible 91 points. Ranking of scores revealed the four highest scoring means all correlated to the meaningfulness category of the SOC questionnaire.

Conclusion: Salutogenesis could be considered a quality in nurses who thrive, but further research is needed.

Keywords: Burnout; Health; Nursing; Resilience; Salutogenesis; Sense of coherence; Stress; Wellbeing.