Facilitators and Barriers to Self-Care Among Nurses and Midwives: A Qualitative Study

The present qualitative multicenter study explored the concept of self-care and related strategies from the perspective of healthcare practitioners within their work context. Drawing on focus group data from 35 Italian healthcare professionals, the analysis was conducted using the Template Analysis approach. Three overarching thematic domains emerged, namely the meaning attributed to self-care and the factors that facilitate or hinder it. Facilitators included individual strategies such as planning, acceptance, emotional sharing, engagement in meaningful activities, and optimism, as well as professional dimensions including flexibility, recognition, teamwork, training, leadership, and a shared ethic of self-care. Conversely, barriers were identified at both the individual level, including time constraints, fatigue, and difficulty processing work experiences outside the workplace, and the organizational level, particularly structural rigidity and limited support. Overall, the findings highlight the relationship between personal and organizational aspects of self-care and offer insights into how healthcare professionals manage their well-being in occupational settings.