High quality of working life is vital for maintaining an adequate workforce, and given the current global nursing workforce shortage, the quality of nurses’ working lives is of particular importance. The literature suggests that ensuring working conditions are attractive enough to retain nurses in the workforce is the most cost-effective and sustainable strategy for addressing the nursing shortage. 

Drawing upon the Theory of Work Adjustment as a theoretical framework, this cross-sectional, mixed-method study sought to explore the opinions about quality of working life held by nurses working in public hospitals in Victoria. Differences in opinion about key aspects of working life between nurses who planned to continue a career in nursing and those who planned to make a career change were also sought. Data were collected using a Likert-style survey and semi-structured interviews and were analysed by means of the SPSS computer program and qualitative content analysis.