Barriers to well-being
| Theme | Subtheme | Example |
| Workplace barriers | Workload | Sometimes you might have a 12-hour shift, which means once you've cooked and taken a shower, you might have absolutely no time to do any other things (selfcare) (D11, male). |
| Changes to routine | If I want to do that activity, I have to find a time to fit it in around my work schedule, which is constantly changing (D15, male). | |
| Inconsistent payment of overtime | The hospital isn’t paying for overtime at the moment … if there’s work to be done then it’s about patient care and patient service. But people aren’t going to say, “I'm just going to leave at 4:30” if they've got a deteriorating or vulnerable patient who needs attention and care. So they will just stay back and work, unpaid (D12, male). | |
| Inflexible leave | They give you the option to be able to tell the admin people at the beginning of the term if you need a specific day or something off, but other than that you're kind of expected to work back when they tell you to work (D8, female). | |
| High expectations despite inexperience | It’s quite confronting when you're just by yourself talking to a nurse and she’s questioning your reasoning and you have to explain it (D8, female). | |
| Bullying+discrimination | I would say racism is the thing that has been the thing that I struggle with the most more than anything else … Almost every consultant has asked me “I know you're Canadian, but what are you really?” (D15, female). | |
| Stigma surrounding mental health | It’s this huge stigma. People are really afraid that other people are going to find out (they are struggling) because I think then the assumption becomes that you can't cope with your job (D15, female). | |
| Barriers to self-care | Confidentiality concerns | They say they're not going to find out but who really knows so (the nurses say) “Just don't bother using that service.” (D15, female). |
| Barriers to exercise | It’s (going to soccer) something that I'm forced to do, even when I'm tired after a big day of work. It forces you to have something that’s going to make you exercise really hard, which is good. You know, sign up at the gym, but when you finish at 5:30pm after a big day, you just don't feel enthused to go. But with soccer, then it sort of has something that you're forced to do (D13, male). | |
| Barriers to eating healthily | A lot of my friends don't do that (cook or meal prep) because they just can't be bothered or don't have enough time. I guess they're a bit stressed about lots of other things going on. They don't have the time to invest in doing that (D13, male). |