Workplace relationships as health-promoting resources at work

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to explore workplace relations as resources for health and well-being from a salutogenic perspective. The number of elderly people is increasing in the population and elderly care has already a strained workload, why it is urgent to pay more attention to the salutogenic aspects for employees’ in elderly care. The studies have been carried out within a municipal healthcare organization between 2012 and 2016 together with healthcare employees. Both qualitative and quantitative methods have been used in the thesis process. Methods that have been used for data generation have been two individual interviews using thematic respectively hermeneutic analysis, questionnaire analyzed with multiple linear regression and multistage focus group interviews analyzed by using deductive content analysis. The results indicate that relationships with care recipients, colleagues and managers were important to the employees' health and contributed to the well-being of the employees'. The opportunity and time to be able to be personal in the relationship with the recipient were important prerequisites for the relationship to arise and be maintained. Belongingness with colleagues was an important prerequisite for the employee's health and wellbeing, where the relationship with the manager could be a means of promoting belongingness among colleagues. The result also showed that the relationship between employees’ and managers can be a resource for performing a good job. Different expectations of each other in the relationship, an increased awareness of each other's perceptions and role expectations are prerequisites for creating promoting relationships between the employees’ and the managers. The thesis also suggests that formal and informal meetings can be a resource for improvement work at the workplace. Multistage focus groups turned out to be an opportunity to explore and understand workplace relationships as a resource, using the Flourishing theory, in health promotion efforts and improvement work. By promoting workplace relationships, the health and well-being of health care employees’ can be promoted, as well as contribute to thriving workplaces.