Iran Journal of Nursing

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Mehrizi Z, Nasiri A, Irandoost S. The Work Engagement of Nurses and Its Correlation with Perceived Social Support. IJN 2019; 32 (120) :60-70
URL: http://ijn.iums.ac.ir/article-1-3022-en.html

Background & Aims: Work engagement refers to a positive, realized, and work-related mental state, determined by power, sacrifice, and attraction. Engaged nurses have a tendency toward providing patient-centered care, and their job productivity report and turnover are higher and lower, respectively, compared to other professions. In addition, work engagement leads to an effective connection to the job, more energy and creativity, and fewer errors and incidents in work. Improvement of work engagement in the nursing work environment requires identifying the related factors in order to strengthen or correct them if needed. One of these factors is perceived social support, which is defined as receive all kinds of help and support from formal or informal social networks. Social support is recognized as a strong facilitator of the work engagement of nurses. Accordingly, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between work engagement of nurses and their perceived social support.
Materials & Methods: This descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional study was performed in training hospitals of Birjand, Iran in 2018. In total, 120 nurses were selected by a multi-stage sampling method, and the inclusion criteria were a minimum of two years of work experience and working in the wards of Imam Reza, Vali-asr, and Razi training hospitals. On the other hand, the exclusion criterion was unwillingness to participate in the research. Data were collected using a researcher-made demographic characteristics questionnaire (age, gender, level of education, marital status, work experience, type of work shift, hospital, type of ward, employment status, and income level), Utrecht work engagement scale and Zimet’s scale of perceived social support. The Utrecht work engagement scale encompassed 17 items and three subscales of power (six items), sacrifice (five items) and attraction (six items), which were scored based on a seven-point scale (0=never to 6=always). In addition, the score range of the tool was 0-102, where higher scores were indicative of higher levels of the participants’ work engagement. On the other hand, Zimet’s scale of perceived social support was designed in 1988 and included 12 items to assess perceived social support from three aspects of family, friends, and others. The items were scored based on a five-point scale from one (not at all) to five (it is completely true). The score range of the tool was 12-60, where higher scores were indicative of a higher level of perceived social support. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, one-way analysis of variance, and independent t-test.
Results: In this study, the mean age, mean work experience, and mean income level of the participants were 33.52 ± 6.17 years, 8.73 ± 5.58 years, and 2.41 ± 4.16 (two million and four hundred and 10 thousand) Tomans per month, respectively. In addition, the mean total work engagement and perceived social support in nurses were 62.00 ± 17.22 and 46.70 ± 8.15, respectively. According to the results, there was a positive and significant correlation between the components of power and attraction (r=0.20, P=0.02) and the total work engagement score with the component of perceived social support of family (r=0.20, P=0.02), which was statistically weak. However, a significant relationship was observed between the component of sacrifice (P=0.02) and gender. In this regard, female nurses received a higher mean. Furthermore, a significant association was found between power (P=0.03) and sacrifice (P=0.02) and the total work engagement score (P=0.02) with the hospital workplace.
Conclusion: Given the total work engagement score, work engagement of nurses was at a moderate level. According to the research findings, there was a weak relationship between the family’s perceived social support and nurses' work engagement. In addition, female nurses received a higher score in terms of the sacrifice component of work engagement, compared to male nurses. By presenting the results of the present study to nursing managers and head nurses in hospitals, it is possible to raise their awareness of work engagement and related factors in nursing staff and help them to create a motivational work environment that increases the desire to work in nurses. One of the limitations of the present study was the high workload of nurses and the lack of time for filling the questionnaires. Given the importance of work engagement in the nursing profession, it is recommended that future studies be held to assess the relationship between work engagement and other variables that were not assessed in the current research. In addition, it is suggested that research be conducted on this relationship in non-training hospitals (e.g., private) as well.