Job engagement’s paradoxical role in nurse burnout

Abstract Interviews were undertaken with 11 community health nurses and qualitative analysis sought to illuminate the ways in which job engagement was connected to their health and functioning. High job engagement followed from the nurses’ deep feeling of calling to the nursing profession and contributed to a strong sense of duty and strict self‐demand regarding one’s own and other’s levels of performance. In nine cases, perceived failures to live up to their own performance demands contributed to the nurses’ near‐burnout. This triggered extensive introspection and reflection, leading to positive coping and avoidance of burnout. The nurses coped by using their well‐honed skills in introspection and reflection, which they had practiced habitually all their careers, to help them determine which personal and professional changes were required to maintain job engagement and satisfaction. Paradoxically, job engagement can not only promote thriving on the job, but also contribute to negative processes leading to poor functioning.