Nurses experiences of returning to work after burnout-related absence: A qualitative interview study

Background

Burnout-related absence among nurses threatens workforce sustainability and quality of care. Research has identified facilitators of sustainable return to work, such as flexible arrangements and supportive leadership, yet most studies conceptualise recovery as a functional outcome, focusing on whether individuals have returned and are gradually working more hours. This study examines how nurses experience this transition and how professional norms and hospital culture shape it.

Methods

Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses returning to work after burnout-related absence in Flemish hospitals. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, with three researchers reading transcripts independently and developing themes through iterative discussion.

Results

Three themes emerged. First, returning to work was experienced with ongoing ambivalence: nurses described simultaneous motivation and vulnerability, often re-encountering the conditions that provoked their absence. Second, norms defining ‘good nursing’, such as dedication, availability and self-sacrifice, acted as barriers to recovery. Combined with the invisibility of burnout symptoms, they produced guilt, self-doubt, and pressure to justify absence. Third, sustainable return required a recalibration of professional identity, in which nurses reassessed what it means to be a ‘good nurse’ and constructed new boundaries between caregiving and self-care.

Conclusions

Recovery is more than returning to work, it requires reassessing professional identity. The ideals drawing nurses to the profession, such as caring for others, can obstruct this process. Findings call for return-to-work policies that move beyond individual accommodations to workplace culture itself, including stigma reduction, supervisor training on psychological safety, and dialogue on norms underlying self-sacrifice. Such measures may support nurse retention and workforce sustainability.

Key messages

• Burnout recovery among nurses requires more than flexible schedules: it also demands cultural change around what it means to be a “good nurse”.

• Return-to-work policies should address hospital culture, stigma and norms of self-sacrifice, not only individual workplace accommodations.