Barriers and facilitators of nursing professional commitment: a qualitative study

Nursing profession and professional organizations in Iran are relatively young and nursing promotion and empowerment is in relation with nurses’ commitment. Providing the strategies for leading nurses to act more in professional ways is one of the priorities of nursing activities. This study aims to define Iranian clinical nurses’ opinion on their professional commitment. A qualitative content analysis approach was used. The sampling process was initiated with purposive sampling and continued with theoretical sampling. The data gathered through semi-structured interviews. Data gathered in 14 month and 28 interviews had been done. The qualitative data obtained from comprehensive interviews were analyzed and interpreted by content analysis method. In this research three main themes were obtained: “Meaning of professional commitment”, “facilitating factors in professional commitment”, and “obstacles to professional commitment”. Nurses commitment to their profession depends on their reception for the career. Factors leading to obligatory will due to no commitment; an inside acceptance would be accompanied by a commitment and responsibility to the career. The professional organizations are recognized for promotion and training of nurses’ commitment. Nursing managers have the most important role in promotion of professional commitment. More studies on formation of professional commitment is proposed.