Objective: Investigate the typical psychological and behavioral characteristics of nursing managers in management contexts and their internal psychological resources, providing empirical evidence for developing targeted psychological intervention programs.

Methods: From January to February 2025, a purposive sampling method was used to select 15 nursing managers from three tertiary hospitals and one secondary hospital in Guangdong Province as the study subjects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, and the interview data were analyzed, summarized, and themed following Colaizzi's 7-step analysis method.

Results：Four main themes and eight sub-themes were extracted: ①Negative cognitive appraisal, encompassing immersion in management dilemmas (becoming trapped in persistent, unsolvable management problems), catastrophizing of management risks (exaggerating potential negative outcomes of management decisions), and diminished self-efficacy; ②Ruminative tendency, encompassing compulsive decision review (recurrent, involuntary revisiting of past management decisions) and anticipatory anxiety; ③Defensive coping strategies, encompassing situational avoidance (avoiding specific management contexts or triggers) and suppressive avoidance (actively suppressing thoughts or emotions related to management challenges); and ④Value-guided committed action, encompassing value reaffirmation (re-clarifying personal or professional values as a basis for action) and committed management behaviors (actions aligned with values despite difficulties).

Conclusion：Nursing managers commonly exhibit psychological characteristics such as cognitive rigidity (inflexible, rule-bound thinking patterns) and experiential avoidance (unwillingness to remain in contact with distressing private events), while simultaneously possessing psychological resources centered on professional values. A stratified intervention program should be developed focusing on cognitive adjustment, emotional acceptance (willingness to experience emotions without defensive reactions), value clarification, and action promotion, so as to enhance their psychological adaptability and management efficacy.