Yseult M Freeney1, Joan Tiernan. 1. School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. yseult.freeney@ucd.ie
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Engagement is couched as the opposite to burnout and while there have been numerous studies that have supported the relationship between organizational antecedents and employee engagement, nurse engagement is still inadequately understood. Recent papers in the nursing literature have called for more research on this construct to be conducted with nurses so that nurse leaders can be better informed about the impact of engagement on outcomes for the organization. AIM: To explore nurses' experiences of their work environments and to reveal factors in the workplace that may facilitate or act as barriers to nurse engagement. METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS: A qualitative methodology was employed with the data from focus groups with a total of 20 nurses working in both general and psychiatric nursing. RESULTS: Facilitators of and barriers to engagement center around six areas of organizational life, namely; workload, control, reward, fairness, community and values. CONCLUSION: Interventions aimed at fostering engagement are called for and through future research in the area of engagement, it is believed that nurses will gain more positive experiences from their work and subsequently a greater sense of well-being.
BACKGROUND: Engagement is couched as the opposite to burnout and while there have been numerous studies that have supported the relationship between organizational antecedents and employee engagement, nurse engagement is still inadequately understood. Recent papers in the nursing literature have called for more research on this construct to be conducted with nurses so that nurse leaders can be better informed about the impact of engagement on outcomes for the organization. AIM: To explore nurses' experiences of their work environments and to reveal factors in the workplace that may facilitate or act as barriers to nurse engagement. METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS: A qualitative methodology was employed with the data from focus groups with a total of 20 nurses working in both general and psychiatric nursing. RESULTS: Facilitators of and barriers to engagement center around six areas of organizational life, namely; workload, control, reward, fairness, community and values. CONCLUSION: Interventions aimed at fostering engagement are called for and through future research in the area of engagement, it is believed that nurses will gain more positive experiences from their work and subsequently a greater sense of well-being.
Authors: J Margo Brooks Carthon; Linda Hatfield; Colin Plover; Andrew Dierkes; Lawrence Davis; Taylor Hedgeland; Anne Marie Sanders; Frank Visco; Sara Holland; Jim Ballinghoff; Mary Del Guidice; Linda H Aiken Journal: J Nurs Care Qual Date: 2019 Jan/Mar Impact factor: 1.597