Collegian (2009) 16, 185—192 available at www.sciencedirect.com An investigation of emotional wellbeing and its relationship to contemporary nursing practice Jayln Rose, RN, BNurs, BNurs(Hons), PhD, MRCNA a,* , Nel Glass, RN, BA, MHPEd, PhD, FRCNA, FCN b,1 a Department of Nursing & Midwifery Fraser Coast Campus, University of Southern Queensland, PO Box 910, Hervey Bay, QLD 4655, Australia b CU National/St Vincents & Mercy Private Hospital, 71 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia Received 13 October 2008; received in revised form 8 June 2009; accepted 4 August 2009 KEYWORDS Emotional wellbeing; Community nurses; Palliative care; Emancipatory research; Contemporary nursing Summary This paper is an investigation of emotional wellbeing and its relationship to contem- porary nursing practice for women community health nurses (CHNs) who are providing palliative care. Palliative care provision has been acknowledged as a source of job satisfaction for many nurses however emotional interactions place increasing strain on nurses’ wellbeing. Psychoso- cial aspects of care are reported as having a personal as well as a professional impact. Work related stress places nurses at increased risk of harm and impaired wellbeing. An emancipatory methodology was chosen for this study. Semi-structured interviews and reflective journaling were the methods used. The data was collected over a 16-month period during 2006—2007. There were fifteen participants. This qualitative study explored Australian rural and urban community nurses’ experiences with wellbeing, emotional work and their professional prac- tice. The findings revealed opposing social forces, an inner ‘dialectical’ tension between the nurses’ expectations of their professional practices and what is valued in their practice settings. In terms of emotional wellbeing, two overarching themes will be discussed: feeling balanced and feeling out of balance. Workplace environments that were not always conducive to healing increased the emotional strain on nurses. Nurses’ work promotes the healing of others there- fore to deny the healing of nurses’ is to deny others of healing. The need for further qualitative research investigating the emotional wellbeing and professional practice of community nurses who provide palliative care is necessary. © 2009 Royal College of Nursing, Australia. Published by Elsevier Australia (a division of Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd). All rights reserved. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 7 4194 3133; fax: +61 7 4194 3173. E-mail address: jayln.rose@usq.edu.au (J. Rose). 1 Tel.: +61 39 411 7389; fax: +61 39 411 7754. Introduction The relationship between emotional wellbeing and nurses’ professional practice remains an under researched area internationally yet recent Australian studies have emerged that make valuable contributions to this developing area 1322-7696/$ — see front matter © 2009 Royal College of Nursing, Australia. Published by Elsevier Australia (a division of Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd). All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.colegn.2009.08.001