The demotivating impact of absenteeism in nursing homes.

Aim: The study explores how prevailing absenteeism frustrates or thwarts nurses' and nursing assistants' basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness), using self-determination theory.

Background: Our study responds to the call to investigate how organisational characteristics influence employees' psychological need, satisfaction and their attitudes and behaviours.

Method: We conducted a semantic analysis of the discourse of 42 nurses and nursing assistants working in nursing homes for older dependent people in France.

Results: The analysis subdivides participants' discourse into four themes: short-term absenteeism, lack of competence, lack of recognition and work overload. These themes are all linked to participants' perceived deficits or threats concerning their psychological needs.

Conclusions: The prevailing absenteeism has a harmful spiral impact on nurses' and nursing assistants' attitudes and behaviours, and, ultimately, on the quality of care received by the patients.

Implications For Nursing Management: Our study confirms the need to adopt various managerial actions to address the following interrelated issues: controlling short-term absences, reducing work overload and giving training and recognition.