“When Rest Feels Wrong”: A Qualitative Study of Rest Intolerance Among Nursing Interns and Implications for Workforce Resilience

OBJECTIVE: To explore the psychological experience and underlying mechanisms of "rest intolerance" among nursing interns. BACKGROUND: Effective recovery is essential for preventing burnout and ensuring patient safety. However, nursing interns often experience "rest intolerance", a paradoxical psychological state where resting induces distress rather than recovery. As interns represent the future pipeline of the nursing workforce, understanding this phenomenon is critical for managers aiming to build resilient teams and reduce early-career attrition. DESIGN: A qualitative interpretive phenomenological study. METHODS: Twenty-one nursing interns were recruited via purposive sampling. Data collected through semi-structured interviews were analyzed using Colaizzi's method. RESULTS: Six themes and fourteen subthemes emerged. Participants described rest intolerance as involving four interrelated psychological experiences: (Theme 1) maladaptive cognitive ruminations (obsessive thinking and guilt regarding downtime); (Theme 2) toxic social comparison (viewing peers' activity as a benchmark for self-worth); (Theme 3) distorted professional identity (equating rest with laziness or lack of commitment); and (Theme 4) psychological inability to disengage (passive anxiety states). Participants attributed these states to two primary systemic stressors: (Theme 5) transitional shock and (Theme 6) task-time resource imbalance. CONCLUSIONS: Interns suffer a "recovery deficit" associated with a cultural and psychological inability to accept rest, which may contribute to burnout and turnover. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Findings suggest that simply providing time off may be insufficient if organizational culture stigmatizes rest. Accordingly, nurse managers and educators could (1) move beyond resilience training to address "rest guilt" explicitly; (2) model healthy recovery behaviors to help dismantle "hustle culture" in clinical wards; and (3) structure internships to reduce the task-time imbalance that appears to trigger cognitive dissonance during downtime. NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: This research did not involve patient or public participation in its design, conduct, data collection, analysis, or manuscript preparation. No patients or members of the public were involved in the development of the research question, interpretation of results, or dissemination of findings.