Background: Professional autonomy is a vital element for health care professionals and an important aspect of a healthy and positive nurse work environment. Autonomy is a multidimensional phenomenon and is a major determinant of nurses’ job satisfaction. Although nurses are required to continually develop new skills and expand their roles, their autonomy appears to be restricted by medical dominance, their perceived lack of knowledge and the limited responsibility afforded to them. Aim: This thesis explores the current professional status of registered nurses in Cyprus, their clinical roles and the factors influencing or affecting their efforts to have their professional autonomy recognised. Additionally, the study identifies what hinders Cypriot nurses’ professional autonomy and how nursing could be developed in the future, through education, curricula development and lifelong learning. Methods: This study was predominately conducted using an interpretative qualitative research method. The thesis collected data with a combination of methods. The first method for this study consisted of six (n = 6) individual semi-structured interviews with three nurse managers and three nurse educators; the second method used seven focus group discussions to explore autonomy, professional roles and other aspects of professional work and to explore the research questions. The participants of the six focus groups were Cypriot male and female, qualified nurses, working in the public health sector in Cyprus. The seventh focus group was made-up by fourth-year student nurses from a private university. Findings: The study found that nurses in Cyprus confront several barriers in developing their autonomous professional roles. The factors identified from the research findings are related to the medical-oriented healthcare system, basic nurse education, a lack of understanding of the nurses’ role by the public as well as by the nurses themselves and the medical profession. Additionally, amongst the most important findings, the study found that nurses are reluctant to take on autonomous roles due to a strict hierarchical system, a fear of repercussions when something goes wrong, a lack of knowledge, a lack of managerial support, a lack of legal recognition for the autonomous role, no rewards, gender issues. 3 Conclusion: Based on the findings, I propose a conceptual framework to be implemented in undergraduate nurse education to enable nursing students to develop their future professional autonomous roles in practice. The framework reflects the participants’ perspectives, who suggested that competence is built on a solid basis of knowledge (education), a thorough awareness of the breadth of nursing practice. It links professional nurse autonomy to attitudes that are learned throughout bachelor education. Other aspects of the framework include role development, interprofessional collaborations, life-long learning, maturity and interpersonal relationships.