Aim

The aims were to (1) describe nurses’ attitudes toward their jobs, (2) identify factors that contribute to nurses’ job attitudes, and (3) examine how nurses’ job attitudes affect their ability to perform their jobs.

Background

Nurses’ job attitudes affect their ability to do their jobs well.

Methods

This was a qualitative descriptive study of 18 semi-structured interviews with nurses who work in rural health facilities. Interviews were analyzed using content analysis.

Results

Factors that influenced job attitudes included support from coworkers, workload, access to material resources, access to information, patient rapport, and nurses’ personal resilience. Nurses reported that positive attitudes helped them to do their jobs well, and negative attitudes diminished their ability to do their jobs well.

Conclusions

This study’s findings support investment in factors to promote positive nurse attitudes and job performance such as a healthy work environment and self-efficacy.

Implications for Nursing Management

Nurse managers can improve nurses’ attitudes by advocating for tangible supports for staff such as appropriate staffing ratios, sufficient equipment, necessary training, and work environments that allow safe patient interactions.