Introduction:

Nursing is one of the professions with greater exposure to occupational risks, one of which is the work-family conflict. Yet this phenomenon negatively affects the health and social interactions of workers, research on the subject is limited in the context of nursing professionals and from a qualitative perspective.

Objective:

To understand the meaning of the work-family relationship and the consequences for the nursing staff.

Methods:

Qualitative study with theoretical tools developed for information analysis and understanding. Nine semistructured interviews were conducted. The participants were selected using the snowball technique and theoretical sampling. The triangulation of the information was carried out in a group interview.

Results:

For female nurses, a vocation for the care of others continues to be an essential value in nursing. The working conditions and the fulfillment of their functions paradoxically imply that they must neglect themselves and cannot take care of other significant aspects of their life as they would like.

Conclusions:

In nursing, the work context not only exposes nurses to multiple occupational risks that affect them during the day, but it also fosters conflict in the work-family relationship. However, nurses, due to their vocation for the care of others, accept and try to adapt to these working conditions and, as a consequence, end up neglecting and relying on third parties to care for other significant aspects of their lives.

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