{"title":"Co-Discovery of Workforce Wellness: Flourishing Through Aesthetic Engagement in a Canadian Healthcare Organization.","authors":"Jessica Burford, Sue Bookey-Bassett","doi":"10.1002/nur.70129","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Healthcare systems continue to face significant workforce challenges that threaten staff well-being, retention, and quality of care. Workforce wellness is increasingly recognized as essential to sustaining a stable and engaged healthcare workforce, yet it is frequently addressed as an individual concern rather than as an organizational, relational, and system-level phenomenon. A qualitative descriptive design with complementary arts-informed engagement examined how staff experience workforce wellness and how organizational environments shape well-being within a Canadian healthcare organization. The final analytic sample included 13 staff members representing diverse organizational roles. Participants submitted a written narrative and a self-chosen aesthetic expression representing what wellness at work meant to them. Written narratives were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, while aesthetic expressions functioned as reflective prompts and knowledge-sharing outputs rather than formal analytic data. Six interconnected themes were identified: psychological safety in a connected community, empowerment through creative expression, culturally inclusive wellness, holistic work-life balance, flexible and supportive environments, and active growth. Together, the themes position workforce wellness as a relational, emotional, and collective phenomenon shaped by leadership practices, organizational culture, and enabling systems, conceptualized as an integrated workforce wellness ecosystem. Findings translate staff experiences into system-level opportunities, including psychological safety practices, flexible work design, culturally inclusive supports, creative engagement, protected recovery, and growth-oriented leadership. Co-design with the organization's Wellness Committee and EDI Council ensured the research asked and addressed questions meaningful to knowledge users.</p>","PeriodicalId":54492,"journal":{"name":"Research in Nursing & Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Research in Nursing & Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.70129","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Healthcare systems continue to face significant workforce challenges that threaten staff well-being, retention, and quality of care. Workforce wellness is increasingly recognized as essential to sustaining a stable and engaged healthcare workforce, yet it is frequently addressed as an individual concern rather than as an organizational, relational, and system-level phenomenon. A qualitative descriptive design with complementary arts-informed engagement examined how staff experience workforce wellness and how organizational environments shape well-being within a Canadian healthcare organization. The final analytic sample included 13 staff members representing diverse organizational roles. Participants submitted a written narrative and a self-chosen aesthetic expression representing what wellness at work meant to them. Written narratives were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, while aesthetic expressions functioned as reflective prompts and knowledge-sharing outputs rather than formal analytic data. Six interconnected themes were identified: psychological safety in a connected community, empowerment through creative expression, culturally inclusive wellness, holistic work-life balance, flexible and supportive environments, and active growth. Together, the themes position workforce wellness as a relational, emotional, and collective phenomenon shaped by leadership practices, organizational culture, and enabling systems, conceptualized as an integrated workforce wellness ecosystem. Findings translate staff experiences into system-level opportunities, including psychological safety practices, flexible work design, culturally inclusive supports, creative engagement, protected recovery, and growth-oriented leadership. Co-design with the organization's Wellness Committee and EDI Council ensured the research asked and addressed questions meaningful to knowledge users.
期刊介绍：
Research in Nursing & Health ( RINAH ) is a peer-reviewed general research journal devoted to publication of a wide range of research that will inform the practice of nursing and other health disciplines. The editors invite reports of research describing problems and testing interventions related to health phenomena, health care and self-care, clinical organization and administration; and the testing of research findings in practice. Research protocols are considered if funded in a peer-reviewed process by an agency external to the authors’ home institution and if the work is in progress. Papers on research methods and techniques are appropriate if they go beyond what is already generally available in the literature and include description of successful use of the method. Theory papers are accepted if each proposition is supported by research evidence. Systematic reviews of the literature are reviewed if PRISMA guidelines are followed. Letters to the editor commenting on published articles are welcome.
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