Relationships and Mediating Effects of Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, Coping and the Practice Environment on Self-Efficacy in Nursing and Job Satisfaction in Australian Registered Nurses

Reid, Carol

Thursday, 2 August 2012: 3:35 PM

Carol Reid, PhD, MAppSc, GradCertHlth, (Sexual, Health), BHSc(N), RN
Research and Development Unit, Centre for Clinical Nursing, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
Cameron Hurst, PhD
School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Debra Jane Anderson, PhD, RN, BA, GDNS, (ed), MN
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to identify that self-efficacy may improve locus of control and may result in improved caring behaviours and job satisfaction.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to identify that age is a predictor of self-efficacy. Programmes designed to improve self-efficacy may benefit younger nurses.

Purpose:

To examine relationships between socio-demographic variables, work locus of control(WLC), general self-efficacy(GSE), the practice environment(PE), caring-efficacy(CE) and job satisfaction(JS) in Australian Registered Nurses.

Methods:

A cross-sectional survey was undertaken. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive and bivariate statistics, multivariable and mediation analyses and structural equation modelling.

Results:

Age was positively related to CE (p ≤ 0.05). Health sector and specialty area were related to JS (p ≤ 0.05). A model was developed and was shown to fit the data well (χ² = 2.3594, χ²/df = 2.3594, CFI = 0.9987). Removal of all four (continuous) socio-demographic variables led to an improved model fit and were excluded from subsequent modelling. A 24% of variation in CE could be accounted for GSE, WLC and PE and 62% of variation in JS could be accounted for by GSE, WLC and PE. All pathways were shown to be significant apart from PE to CE. Additional model testing found CE positively related to GSE (β_Z= 0.38, p < 0.001) and negatively related to WLC (β_Z= - 0.23, p < 0.001). JS was positively explained by PE (β_Z= 0.69, p = < 0.001); GSE was negatively related to JS (β_Z- 0 .09, p < 0.001) and WLC, was negatively related (β_Z= - 0.20, p < 0.001). Further, CE mediated the relationship between GSE and JS.

Conclusion:

The model showed that an internal WLC and high levels of GSE in nurses may result in high levels of CE and JS. When PE scores were high (satisfied with the environment), JS scores were high (high levels of job satisfaction). This study provides a comprehensive profile of Australian nurses and factors that may affect nursing care. Enhancing nurses’ self- efficacy and the practice environment may improve nurse-patient relationships and job satisfaction.

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