In conclusion, the results from the present study indicate that several ward atmosphere subscales were related to aspects of the psychosocial work environment in terms of Empowering leadership, Role clarity and Organizational climate. The clarity of the treatment programs, the encouragement of patients, and the staff's focus on feelings and personal problems among the patients were found to be important ingredients embedded in the ward atmosphere. These were factors that were shown to influence the nursing staff's psychosocial work environment. Improvements in the ward atmosphere could be another way to accomplish improvements in the working conditions for the staff, in terms of psychosocial work environment, and the ward manager may have an important role in this respect. Improvement and changes in the ward atmosphere, and also in the psychosocial work environment, would seemingly affect nurses and nurse assistants in similar ways. Specifically, the findings indicate that developing and improving the ward atmosphere by clarifying the ward and treatment/caring structure and regimes, and enhancing activities that guide the patients in personal and practical problem solving, could pave the way for a better psychosocial work environment. This study was limited to the relationships between the ward atmosphere and the psychosocial work environment. The results may serve as a basis for generating hypotheses regarding more complex relationships between potentially influencing factors and aspects of the psychosocial environment. These can, for example, include buffering factors like peer support and personal characteristics such as feeling that one is in control of one's life situation.