Escalating nursing shortages represent a worldwide and UK-specific concern, adversely impacting patient care and the working conditions of healthcare professionals. High student nurse attrition exacerbates these shortages, as the provision of future nurses depends on successful course completion. Despite extensive research, effective solutions remain elusive. While nursing can be profoundly rewarding, repeated exposure to the suffering of can leave individuals vulnerable to substantial emotional and psychological challenges. The Professional Quality of Life tool (ProQOL) has been widely used in healthcare to evaluate the positive and negative effects of working in nursing by measuring compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress (STS).A positive overall ProQOL score, with higher levels of CS, lower levels of BO and STS, indicates that a professional is experiences emotional fulfilment from their role: Positive ProQOL is associated with nurse retention and improved patient care. In contrast, reduced ProQOL characterised by higher levels of BO, STS and lower CS indicates that a professional is suffering from the negative emotional impact of their role. Inadequate ProQOL in nursing is associated with poor patient care and leaving the profession. Existing research has found that most student nurses have inadequate ProQOL with BO being a particular concern. This mixed-method study sought to identify factors that support student nurse ProQOL and consider if positive ProQOL could contribute to intention to complete.Ten students with positive ProQOL scores were interviewed to explore their intention to complete and discover factors in their academic, clinical and personal lives that supported their ProQOL.Inductive analysis of the interviews revealed three main themes that may support ProQOL: (1) Motivation, which provides the driving force for career aspirations and supports learning and growth; (2) Learning Opportunities, which support continued motivation and are essential for the development of professional knowledge and skills; (3) Support, which acts as the essential scaffold that upholds learning and motivation and is needed to overcome challenges. The study’s findings could inform future research and the development of interventions to retain or improve student ProQOL, which may support course completion rates, and have implications relevant to nursing education.