The ward atmosphere important for the psychosocial work environment of nursing staff in psychiatric in-patient care

93 nursing staff working at 12 general psychiatric in-patient wards in Sweden completed two questionnaires, the Ward Atmosphere Scale and the QPSNordic 34+. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U-test, Spearman rank correlations and forward stepwise conditional logistic regression analyses.The data revealed that there were no differences between nurses and nurse assistants concerning perceptions of the psychosocial work environment and the ward atmosphere. The ward atmosphere subscales Personal Problem Orientation and Program Clarity were associated with a psychosocial work environment characterized by Empowering Leadership. Program Clarity was related to the staff's perceived Role Clarity, and Practical Orientation and Order and Organization were positively related to staff perceptions of the Organizational Climate.The results from the present study indicate that several ward atmosphere subscales were related to the nursing staff's perceptions of the psychosocial work environment in terms of Empowering Leadership, Role Clarity and Organizational Climate. Improvements in the ward atmosphere could be another way to accomplish improvements in the working conditions of the staff, and such improvements would affect nurses and nurse assistants in similar ways.The nursing staff working in psychiatric care have a demanding work situation, which may be reflected in how they view their psychosocial work environment and the ward atmosphere. Despite an extensive body of research in the field of psychosocial work environment [1-3] and in that of the ward atmosphere [4-6], there is little research that investigates the relationship between these two phenomena in psychiatric care. The psychosocial work environment has to do with the staff's working conditions, including organizational and work characteristics [7], while the ward atmosphere reflects the milieu in which the care takes place and patient - staff relationships are developed [5]. An understan