Introduction Job satisfaction is defined as the amount of positivity expressed about a job (Adam & Bond, 2000). It is also a common feeling one has about one's job or how one feels about one's job (McNeese-Smith & Crook, 2003). Nurses' job satisfaction and their likelihood of remaining in the profession are huge issues for management as the demand for nurses is greater than the available supply (McGlynn, Griffin, Donahue & Fitzpatrick, 2012). When one is dissatisfied with one's work environment, nurses are more likely to resign and leave the job (Ma, Samuels & Alexander, 2003). Nurses' work environment has an impact on their job satisfaction. Nurses have reported greater emotional and physical exhaustion when they have to care for more patients than they can handle (Sheward, Hunt, Hagen, MacLeod & Ball, 2005). The quality of nursing care for patients is influenced by nurses' job satisfaction (McNeese-Smith, 2000). Nurses' job dissatisfaction can indirectly lead to a shortage of nurses resulting in increased patient-nurse ratios, with patients having to wait longer and ultimately, burnout among nurses (Ma et al, 2003). Job satisfaction is subjective and varies differently among each nurse and may change over time (Cumbey & Alexander, 1998). There are several factors that could influence nurses' job satisfaction, mainly related to nurses or the environment. The factors related to nurses are their behaviors, attitudes, character and life satisfaction (Manojlovich & Spence Laschinger, 2002). Life satisfaction is considered as how satisfied nurses are with their life and whether their needs are met (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2000). Over the past five years, many studies have been conducted on nurses' job satisfaction and the medical-surgical context. , however, studies on psychiatric nurses and their environments are lacking (Hanrahan, Aiken, McClaine & Hanlon, 2010). The problems faced in the psychiatric field are the excess of patients in acute departments (Virtanen et al., 2008), the frequent rate of patient turnover, the increased incidence of aggressive behavior, the need for isolation and the use of restraints (Steinert, Bergbauer, Schmid, & Gebhardt, 2007) and increasing reports of events such as workplace accidents and medication errors (Grasso, Rothschild, Jordan, & Jayaram, 2005). These problems are further exacerbated by the shortage of nurses working in psychiatric settings (The Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce, 2006). Literature review Interpersonal relationships Nurses' relationships with their colleagues are some of the main factors that can influence their job satisfaction and several studies (Adams & Bond, 2000, Newman & Maylor, 2002, Dunn et al.