The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the experiences of Iranian nurses concerning their quality of work life. A purposive sample of nurses (n = 14) was recruited from two university hospitals. The data were collected through unstructured interviews and were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. The results indicated that the participants discerned their quality of work life by assessing how favorable were their working conditions, the level of fulfilment of their personal needs, and the impact of their working conditions on their private life and their social life. Three main themes were identified: quality of work life, as experienced from a personal perspective; quality of work life, as experienced from a sociocultural perspective; and quality of work life, as experienced from an organizational-professional perspective. The results of the present study will help Iranian nurse administrators to adopt effective strategies in order to improve nurses' quality of work life. Future research can broaden the scope of the current results and offer a more comprehensive understanding of nurses' quality of work life.
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.