Journal of Nursing Management最新文献

Aim: To examine the prevalence of dysmenorrhea in the predominantly female nursing profession and investigate the role of occupational characteristics in dysmenorrhea.

Background: Studies on working women have mostly examined the effects of dysmenorrhea symptoms on work performance, as opposed to shedding light on the association between work-related characteristics and dysmenorrhea.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we used data obtained from survey 9 of the Korea Nurses’ Health Study. The participants were female nurses of childbearing age. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression.

Results: Data from 6697 participants were analyzed. Of the total sample, 47.3% had dysmenorrhea. After adjusting for confounders to examine the relationship between occupational characteristics and dysmenorrhea, the odds for dysmenorrhea were 1.230 times higher among women who lifted heavy objects at least six times a day compared to those who did not engage in heavy lifting (95% confidence interval: 1.028–1.473) and 1.042 times higher among women with higher physical fatigue (odds ratio: 1.042, 95% confidence interval: 1.023–1.061).

Conclusion: The findings clarify the potential for reducing dysmenorrhea through the improvement of work environment factors. Thus, this study may prove useful for developing educational programs and policies that aim to alleviate dysmenorrhea among working women, including nurses.

Implications for Nursing Management: Nursing managers and health policymakers need to understand the factors influencing dysmenorrhea and minimize female nurses’ physical burden by implementing appropriate nurse–patient ratios and improving their work environment.

Background: Organizational turnover exacerbates the shortage of nurses in the global workforce. However, no study has yet explored how deep structure usage—nurses’ integration of electronic patient records into nursing practice delivery—reduces their turnover intention and moderates the impact of affective, continuance, and normative professional commitment on their turnover intention.

Aims: To ascertain (1) the linkage between the deep structure usage of electronic patient records and nurses’ organizational turnover intention and (2) the moderating role of deep structure usage on the associations between elements of commitment (affective, continuance, and normative) and turnover intention.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional survey and proportionate random sampling by ward unit, we collected data from 417 full-time nurses via a self-administered questionnaire. We performed hierarchical regression analyses to test the study hypotheses.

Results: Deep structure usage was not directly related to organizational turnover intention (β = −0.07, p = 0.06). However, the results suggested that deep structure usage may enhance the effect of high affective commitment on nurses’ organizational turnover intention (β = −0.09, p = 0.04), while potentially mitigating the effect of low continuance commitment on organizational turnover intention (β = 0.10, p = 0.01).

Conclusions: Deep structure usage of electronic patient records helps to ease nurses’ workload and facilitates their retention, which is particularly due to their affective commitment (attachment) but not their continuance commitment (switching costs).

Implications for Nursing Management: Nursing management may advise hospital management that medical records systems need to be improved and fully embedded for nursing care delivery, as a more in-depth use of these systems can help to retain nurses.

Purpose: Nursing is a representative profession with a high prevalence of presenteeism, which is usually associated with negative outcomes. Therefore, it is important to explore the antecedent factors of nurse presenteeism behavior. This study aims to explore the impact and mechanism of head nurses’ cognitive preference toward presenteeism on subordinate nurses’ presenteeism (SNP), and the mediation effects of subordinate nurses’ perception of head nurses’ cognitive preference.

Patient and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to August 2022. A total of 256 head nurses and 1424 subordinate nurses were recruited from six hospitals located in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China. The Nurse Presenteeism Questionnaire (NPQ) and Cognitive Preference Questionnaire were used to assess head nurses’ cognitive preference toward presenteeism, SNP, and subordinate nurses’ perception of head nurse’s cognition of presenteeism. We conducted description, multilevel correlation, and multilevel structural equation models for the data analysis.

Results: In the past 6 months, 93.4% of nurses experienced presenteeism. Within and between the team, head nurses’ cognitive preference toward presenteeism is positively associated with SNP. The mediation effect of nurses’ perception of head nurses’ cognitive preference was also significant.

Conclusion: Head nurses’ cognitive preferences are essential predictors of subordinates’ presenteeism. In this process, subordinates’ subjective initiative plays a crucial role.

Implications for Nursing Management: Hospital managers should focus on head nurses’ values to formulate multiple interventions of presenteeism and strengthen communication between leaders and subordinates to promote transforming negative outcomes into positive outcomes.

Background:​ Empathy is a fundamental component of the therapeutic relationship between healthcare providers and patients and has the potential to yield significant benefits, including heightened care satisfaction, enhanced care quality, and improved mental well-being for patients. As nursing assistants (NAs) are primary direct care providers in long-term care facilities (LTCFs), it is necessary to understand NAs’ views on empathy in their care provision for residents, but a gap exists in the literature regarding NAs’ perspectives on empathy in this context.

Aim: In this study, we aimed to explore perceptions of empathy among NAs in LTCFs.

Research Design: A qualitative approach was applied in this study.

Participants and Research Context: Through purposive and snowball sampling, 18 NAs who provided care for residents in six LTCFs in Taiwan were recruited. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted using a semistructured interview guide, and data were analyzed using a content analysis.

Ethical Considerations: Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board. All participants signed a written informed consent form prior to the interview.

Results: Four themes encompassing 11 categories were generated including “being fundamental to caregiving to establish trust and enhance quality care,” “practicing altruistic behavior in the pursuit of ethical caregiving,” “cycling empathic flow in care,” and “facing challenges in delivering empathetic care.”

Conclusions: NAs in LTCFs viewed empathy as an essential element of the caregiving process. They saw empathy as selfless care, assistance to others, and alleviation of residents’ suffering. Understanding residents’ emotions, thoughts, and needs, active listening and compassionate engagement were vital to expressing empathy. However, NAs faced challenges in expressing empathy due to demanding tasks, time limitations, and insufficient knowledge and communication skills. In addition, emotional desensitization further complicated the provision of empathic care. The findings of this study can provide information for nurse managers and directors to understand NAs’ perspectives on empathy and difficulties when providing empathic care in the long-term care context.

Aim(s): To understand how nurses experience their positioning amidst hospital crises.

Background: Nursing leadership literature is predominantly focused on the skills and competencies of nurses and less on the relations in practice with nurses. Nurses are often valued for bedside care but are overlooked in strategic decision-making during crises. Foundational research emphasizes the need for nurses’ equal participation in interprofessional healthcare practices and governance.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative interpretive interview and focus group study, amidst the COVID-19 crisis. We interviewed 64 chairs of nurse councils and deepened our understanding of our initial findings in four focus groups with 34 participants.

Results: Nurses differ widely on (a) what is important to them in crisis management, (b) how they can contribute to crisis management, and (c) how they value their involvement or lack of it. Furthermore, we uncovered three relational leadership struggles for nurses concerning (1) navigating, (2) positioning, and (3) collaborating, in crisis management structures.

Conclusion: The ailing positioning and representation of nurses in crisis management result from their limited participation in strategic decision-making, and the lack of intervention on this by board members, physicians, and managers.

Implications for Nursing Management: This study highlights the need for agents such as board members, managers, physicians, and nurses themselves to create clear frameworks and policies that define nurses’ roles in crisis situations, emphasizing the importance of addressing power dynamics and enhancing communication and collaboration in hospital settings. Effective crisis management requires involving nurses from the start, providing regular training, and promoting a more equal approach to teamwork. Understanding relational leadership and its impact during crises can empower nurses and improve overall hospital crisis response.

Aims: This study examines the contribution of top management’s transformational leadership behaviors on two targets of nurses’ turnover intention (organization and occupation) by focusing on the indirect (through vigor and dedication) and conditional indirect associations (involving autonomous motivation as a moderator).

Background: Although the issue of nurse turnover has received growing scientific attention, the research is currently silent about the specific targets of turnover intention and more importantly, the potential pathways through which top management’s transformational leadership behaviors relate to each target.

Method: Cross-sectional data from a sample of 426 French–Canadian nurses and structural equation modeling were used to test the proposed model.

Results: Top management’s transformational leadership behaviors distinctly predicted organizational and occupational turnover intention through specific nurses’ states of engagement. While perceived transformational leadership positively predicted vigor, its indirect associations (via dedication) with organizational and occupational turnover intention depend on nurses’ level of autonomous motivation at work.

Conclusion: In times of nurse shortage, the present findings provide insights into how and when top management’s transformational leadership behaviors relate to nurses’ organizational and occupational turnover intention.

Implications for Nursing Management: Healthcare organizations are advised to foster top management transformational leadership behaviors and autonomous motivation to sustain the nursing workforce.

Aim: To translate the Rushton Moral Resilience Scale (RMRS) into Japanese and validate its applicability among Japanese healthcare professionals.

Background: To overcome daily challenges in the field of healthcare, in which moral difficulties are routinely encountered, the development of intervention methods to address moral suffering and moral distress is crucial.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey using a web-based questionnaire. The RMRS-16 was translated into Japanese and confirmed through back-translation. Reliability analyses (Cronbach’s alpha and intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]), confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs), correlation analyses, t-tests, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to assess the validity of the scale.

Results: Participants comprised 1295 healthcare professionals, including 498 nurses. All subscales and the total scale had acceptable reliability values (α ≥ 0.70). CFA supported the original four-factor structure (response to moral adversity, personal integrity, relational integrity, and moral efficacy), with acceptable fit indices. The ANOVA results suggested that, among Japanese healthcare professionals, nurses and individuals from other professions showed lower average moral resilience scores compared to physicians, consistent with previous research on mental health and moral distress. In addition, women scored lower for moral resilience than men. However, the ICC values for the subscales of the RMRS were below acceptable levels, and the results of the standardized residual covariances also suggested a model misfit.

Conclusion and Implications: The reliability, validity, and utility of the Japanese version of the RMRS were generally supported. However, there were areas at the item level that required structural examination. The current findings suggest that there are cultural differences in the concept of moral resilience. Therefore, for future cultural comparisons, the original four-factor structure was maintained in the Japanese version without modifications. Further conceptual development of moral resilience is needed in Japanese healthcare.

Objective: Hand functionality, defined as the ability to perform tasks requiring fine motor skills, is crucial for emergency service nurses as it directly affects their ability to perform tasks requiring fine motor skills, such as administering medication, operating equipment, and providing patient care. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the effects of an 8-h work shift on hand functionality and perceived exertion among emergency service nurses.

Method: Employing a cross-sectional design, the study measured manual dexterity, handgrip, and pinch strength, and perceived exertion using the Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test (MMDT), Nine-Hole Peg Test (9-HPT), Handgrip Strength Test, Pinch Strength Test, and the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale. Data were collected from 34 emergency service nurses both before and after their shifts.

Results: The present findings indicated significant postshift declines in manual dexterity as evidenced by the MMDT and 9-HPT, with the former demonstrating a large effect size and the latter a small effect size. No significant changes were observed in handgrip and pinch strength. Notably, Borg RPE scores increased significantly postshift, indicating substantial perceived fatigue with a nearly perfect effect size. Correlation analyses revealed significant relationships between increased physical exertion and changes in hand dexterity and strength, underscoring the physical demands placed on nurses during typical work shifts.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for healthcare institutions to reassess work schedules and ergonomic practices to mitigate fatigue and preserve nurses’ hand functionality, thereby enhancing patient care and nurse well-being. The study calls for further research to explore more comprehensive strategies aimed at reducing the occupational strain on emergency service nurses.

Background: Newly graduated registered nurses face more challenges than their experienced counterparts, as they not only confront the high pressures of an increasingly complex medical environment but also need to quickly adapt to their jobs and role transitions. The emotional burden arising at this stage is referred to as transitional shock. Self-depletion, as proposed by Baumeister, refers to the process by which individuals exhaust their internal psychological control resources when facing challenges, subsequently affecting cognition and emotion. The occurrence of transitional shock and the process of individual self-depletion appear to be closely related. However, to our knowledge, there has been limited research exploring the occurrence of transitional shock from the perspective of self-depletion theory.

Aim: Investigating the emergence process of transition shock through the lens of self-depletion theory entails an examination of the mechanisms by which individuals engage in self-regulation when confronted with challenges and how transition shock manifests throughout this process.

Designs: A descriptive qualitative study.

Methods: Between August and November 2023, using maximum variation sampling and purposive sampling methods, 16 nurses were selected for semistructured interviews at a tertiary hospital in Suzhou, China.

Results: Employing thematic analysis, three interconnected themes were identified, encompassing the entry-level workforce challenges, the subsequent effects of energy depletion, and the sources and replenishment of energy.

Conclusion: As new nurses adapt to their roles and environments, they encounter numerous pressures that markedly drain their psychological energy. This ongoing depletion of self-regulation energy can lead to transitional shock, impulsive decision-making, and missed nursing care.

Implications for Nursing Management: Managers should implement comprehensive support strategies, including optimized work environments, enhanced training, and personal development, to help newly graduated nurses successfully transition and improve care quality and retention.

Objective: To assess the effects of the nurse–manager dualistic intervention (NMDI) program on work engagement and job crafting of ICU burnout nurses.

Background: Work engagement is crucial for nurses’ job performance and quality of clinical care. Personal and work resources are important antecedents of work engagement. However, few intervention studies focused on improving nurses’ personal and work resources to promote work engagement and job crafting of burnout nurses.

Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. One hundred and two ICU nurses from two tertiary hospitals in Shandong Province were recruited. Forty-two ICU nurses from one hospital were set as the intervention group and underwent NMDI. Sixty ICU nurses from the other hospital constituted the control group, which received routine occupational health guidance from the hospital. Demographic characteristics, burnout, work engagement, and job crafting were collected at baseline (T0), postintervention (T1), and 3-month postintervention (T2).

Results: Compared to baseline, both work engagement and job crafting scores increased in the intervention group at postintervention (T1). At postintervention (T1), work engagement and job crafting were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (β_{workengagement} = 3.894, p = 0.016 and β_jobcrafting = 6.104, p = 0.010), but the difference between the two groups was not significant at the 3-month follow-up (β_{workengagement} = 3.618, p = 0.066 and β_jobcrafting = 3.554, p = 0.15).

Conclusion: The NMDI program can significantly improve ICU burnout nurses’ work engagement and job crafting. Nevertheless, the sustainability of these effects over time has been found to be limited, indicating that future research needs to explore and implement strategies to bolster the long-term efficacy of this intervention.

Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse managers are suggested to integrate the NMDI program into routine nursing management. Managers ought to prioritize appreciative and constructive dialog between themselves and nurses in order to support nurses in inquiring personal and work resources and encourage nurses to develop work plans to utilize resources. This will help to increase nurses’ engagement and job crafting.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: ChiCTR2100047974