Background: Nursing is an accountable profession due to the concern with patient safety (Aiken et al., 2002). In recent years, growth requirements and a reduction in rewards within this profession have been observed (Basinska & Wilczek-Ruzyczka, 2011). Most nurses are women and it is known that women often try to put together professional duties and family life. The conflict between private and professional life is bidirectional in nature. The negative impact of work on private life is observed more frequently than the reversed relation (Greuters et al., 2003).

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of conflict work-family and family-work on the perception of occupational stress and engagement. Professional demands were defined as work overload and interpersonal conflicts at work. Positive engagement was characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption (Schaufeli et al., 2002).

Methods: The following methods were used: Interpersonal Conflict at Work Scale and Quantitative Overload Inventory (Spector & Jex, 1998), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale – short version (Schaueli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006), and Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Scales (Netemeyer, Boles, & McMurrian, 1996). The study consisted of 98 nurses from southern Poland (mean age 41 years, SD = 5.7) with an average seniority of 19 years (range 1.5 – 30). Most of them were married (85%) and had a working partner (82%); 10% didn’t have any children.

Results: The value of work-family conflict was stronger than the family-work conflict. Job demands were higher in the group of nurses who felt a greater negative impact of work on the family. Moreover, they felt less vigor, dedication, but more absorption (d =.42 - .85). Nurses who had a stronger negative impact of family on work also experienced a greater influence of the job at home (d = .62). Additionally they were more absorbed by their work (d = 2.04).

Conclusion: Our results confirm that the work-family conflict is stronger than the family-work conflict. The negative impact of work on private life shows in the differences in perception of occupational stress and engagement in work. However, we have observed that the family-work conflict is more frequent in nurses with high absorption. We suggest to longitudinally investigate the reciprocal relationships between work and private life among nurses.