Meaningful moments in public health nursing

Literature exists documenting the impact of the shortage of nurses in public health; however, there is little evidence about nurses' own perceptions of their meaningfulness at work or how contextual factors in the work environment influence their experience of meaningful work. The literature suggests links between work satisfaction, retention, quality of care, and meaningfulness in work. The purpose of this study was to gather public health nurses' stories of their most meaningful moments in nursing in an effort to develop deeper understanding about what makes moments meaningful and the context in which the meaningful moments occurred. Participants were asked to respond to three questions in an in-depth interview: a) Describe your most meaningful moment in nursing, b) What made the moment meaningful to you? and c) What factors influenced your meaningful moments? Thirteen nurses from two county agencies were interviewed. The participants ranged from 27 to 58 years of age (mean of 45 years of age), and had from 7 months to 34 years experience (mean of 13 years) working as public health nurses. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using a holistic-form-based mode of analysis as well as the Atlas data management system. Identification of themes from the narratives reveals that meaningfulness is seen as having specific properties and is experienced through particular nursing roles. Personal, structural, and systemic factors that create barriers were identified as well as those facilitating meaningfulness in the workplace. The impact of meaningfulness was also noted as a theme in the narratives. The results of this study offer evidence to nurse leaders for designing institutional work policies to enhance nurses' experience of meaningfulness at work. Similarly the findings suggest the value of curriculum expansion to include ways nurses can create more meaningful work environments for themselves.