Abstract: AIM: To develop an early career job satisfaction instrument that is valid and reliable across the four UK nursing branches. BACKGROUND: Contemporary instruments are required to measure nurse job satisfaction and to explore potential links with quality of care and retention. METHOD(S): Factor analysis was used to explore and test the stability of job satisfaction components across branches and over time. RESULTS: Seven components (client care, staffing, development, relationships, education, work-life interface, resources) of job satisfaction were identified common to the adult, child and mental health branches that explained over 70% of the variance. The factor structure remained reasonably stable across time within each branch. Some differences between branches emerged at 6 and 18 months. The instrument has similarities and differences with existing generic and nursing facet job satisfaction scales. CONCLUSION: Findings support a generic instrument that can be used to measure the job satisfaction of adult, child and mental health nurses in their early career. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The instrument could be used for appraisal, annual staff surveys, for understanding retention locally and nationally, as an early warning system to identify organizational problems and to measure the impact of policies over time.
Notes: Murrells, Trevor xD;Robinson, Sarah xD;Griffiths, Peter xD;Department of Health/United Kingdom xD;Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't xD;England xD;Journal of nursing management xD;J Nurs Manag. 2009 Jan;17(1):120-34.
Abstract: Background Increasing mobility of healthcare professionals has led to concerns that certain countries or regions are depleted of sufficient staff to meet healthcare needs. In formulating appropriate strategies to ensure better retention locally, human resource managers are hindered by lack of information about migration patterns.Purpose and aims Purposes included studying movement of diploma nurses qualifying in England and contributing to literature on developing methods for obtaining migration data. Specific aims ascertained: regional variation in retention of locally trained nurses; associations between nurses' profile and retention in training region; and impact on each region of inter-regional movement of nurses.Method Questionnaires sent to a nationally representative cohort of adult branch nurses at qualification (n=1596) and at subsequent intervals thereafter provided data on all employment and other activities and geographical location of each. Event histories constructed from chart data were used to analyse length of retention in region of training and movements between regions. Retention was operationalised through developing the construct `engagement with nursing'.Results Older entrants and those with children were more likely to nurse in their training region than younger and childless counterparts. Regions differed in retention of locally trained nurses and in the impact on their diplomate workforce of inter-regional movement. Regional variations were insufficiently explained by differences in nurses' profiles; hence influences of regional characteristics were also considered.Conclusion Retention strategies should include maintaining the policy of recruiting greater diversity of entrants, particularly mature entrants and those who have children. In developing local strategies, each region needs: information about retention of different components of their workforce; and an understanding of how regional characteristics can facilitate or constrain retention. National and international workforce organisations need to plan how best to obtain accurate and comparable nurse migration data.
Abstract: AIM: To develop a new, valid and reliable instrument that has been designed and evaluated to measure job satisfaction as perceived by nurses with specific aspects of contemporary nursing. BACKGROUND: Job satisfaction is a key concept within workforce research in nursing and is particularly important within the present climate in the UK due to findings linking satisfaction with both quality of care and retention of nurses. METHOD(S): Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were carried out on a large longitudinal dataset from a study of Adult-branch diploma-qualified nurses in England who completed the scale at three time-points after qualification. RESULTS: A six-factor solution was supported and replicated in a further sample of recently qualified graduate nurses. The instrument was also acceptably reliable. CONCLUSION: This new instrument is a concise, highly practical and flexible tool, which can be used in a range of health care settings and in different measurement contexts.
