Caring for meaning: a qualitative exploration of healthcare professionals’ experiences

Abstract

Background:

Healthcare professionals often face tension between caregiving values and systemic demands for efficiency and economic stability. While caregivers focus on patient well-being, hospital leaders must ensure resource and staff management—roles that can appear contradictory.

Objective:

This study explores how both caregivers and leaders in a large Norwegian hospital experience meaning in their work, aiming to identify shared ground for healthcare engagement. Drawing on Hartmut Rosa’s resonance theory and Tatjana Schnell’s research on meaning in life, we examine how professional experiences foster or hinder resonance—a mode of being characterized by mutual responsiveness and transformation.

Methods:

Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses, doctors, and leaders using a guide informed by resonance theory. Data were analyzed thematically in a multidisciplinary team.

Results:

Four themes emerged: (1) healthcare as a demanding yet meaningful profession, (2) organizational challenges, (3) patient relationships, and (4) teamwork and collegial support. Across roles, participants described systemic pressures that threaten meaningful engagement, but also highlighted moments of deep resonance—particularly in patient care, collaboration, and learning.

Discussion:

Resonance and meaning are sustained when work aligns with moral purpose and supports relational and reflective engagement. Both caregivers and leaders seek meaning in their roles, often through shared values and relationships. These findings underscore the need for organizational structures that allow space for resonance, rather than accelerating alienation through excessive control and restructuring.

Conclusions:

Caring for meaning represents common ground for caregivers and leaders. A resonance-informed healthcare leadership might strengthen both staff well-being and quality of care.