Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T22:21:38.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The importance of the supervisor for the mental health and work attitudes of Australian aged care nurses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2012

John Rodwell  and
Angela Martin
John Rodwell*
Affiliation:
Australian Catholic University, Victoria, Fitzroy, Australia
Angela Martin
Affiliation:
The University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Professor John Rodwell, Australian Catholic University, Victoria, Locked Bag 4115, Fitzroy VIC 3065, Australia. Phone: +61-3-9953-3486. Email: john.rodwell@acu.edu.au.
Get access

Abstract

Background: The work attitudes and psychological well-being of aged care nurses are important factors impacting on the current and future capacity of the aged care workforce. Expanding our understanding of the ways in which the psychosocial work environment influences these outcomes is important in order to enable organizations to improve the management of human resources in this sector.

Methods: Using survey data from a sample of 222 Australian aged care nurses, regression analyses were employed to test the relative impact of a range of psychosocial work environment variables derived from the demand-control-support (DCS) model and organizational justice variables on satisfaction, commitment, well-being, and depression.

Results: The expanded model predicted the work attitudes and well-being of aged care nurses, particularly the DCS components. Specifically, demand was related to depression, well-being, and job satisfaction, job control was related to depression, commitment, and job satisfaction, and supervisor support and interpersonal fairness were related to well-being. The contributions of informational and interpersonal justice, along with the main and interaction effects of supervisor support, highlight the centrality of the supervisor in addressing the impact of job demands on aged care nurses.

Conclusion: Psychosocial variables have utility beyond predicting stress outcomes to the work attitudes of nurses in an aged care setting and thus present further avenues of research for the retention of nurses and improved patient care.

Keywords

aged care nursesdemand-control-supportjusticemental health and well being
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , March 2013 , pp. 382 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agho, A. O., Price, J. L. and Mueller, C. W. (1992). Discriminant validity of measures of job satisfaction, positive affectivity and negative affectivity. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 65, 185–196. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8325.tb00496.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
AIHW. (2010). Nursing and Midwifery labour Force Survey 2008: Registered Nurses Work Setting Detailed Tables. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).Google Scholar
Allen, N. J. and Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 1–18. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8325.1990.tb00506.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R. A., Issel, L. M. and McDaniel, R. R. (2003). Nursing homes as complex adaptive systems: relationship between management practice and resident outcomes. Nursing Research, 52, 12–21. doi:10.1097/00006199-200301000-00003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arafa, M., Nazel, M., Ibrahim, N. and Attia, A. (2003). Predictors of psychological well-being of nurses in Alexandria, Egypt. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 9, 313–320. doi:10.1046/j.1440-172X.2003.00437.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boekhorst, S., Willemse, B., Depla, M. F. I. A., Eefsting, J. A. and Pot, A. M. (2008). Working in group living homes for older people with dementia: the effects on job satisfaction and burnout and the role of job characteristics. International Psychogeriatrics, 20, 927–940. doi:10.1017/S1041610208007291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caplan, R., Cobb, S., French, J., Harrison, R. and Pinneau, S. (1980). Job Demands and Worker Health: Main Effects and Occupational Differences. Ann Arbor: Survey Research Centre, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Chen, H., Chu, C., Wang, Y. and Lin, L. (2008). Turnover factors revisited: a longitudinal study of Taiwan-based staff nurses. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 45, 277–285. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2006.08.010.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, S. and Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310–357. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 386–400. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jonge, J., Bosma, H., Peter, R. and Siegrist, J. (2000). Job strain, effort-reward imbalance and employee well-being: a large-scale cross-sectional study. Social Science & Medicine, 50, 1317–1327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edvardsson, D., Fetherstonhaugh, D., McAuliffe, L., Nay, R. and Chenco, C. (2011). Job satisfaction amongst aged care staff: exploring the influence of person-centered care provision. International Psychogeriatrics, 23 (8), 1205–1212. doi:10.1017/S1041610211000159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elliott, K. E., Scott, J. L., Stirling, C., Martin, A. J. and Robinson, A. (2012). Building capacity and resilience in the dementia care workforce: a systematic review of interventions targeting worker and organizational outcomes. International Psychogeriatrics, 24, 882–894. doi:10.1017/S1041610211002651.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elovainio, M., Kivimaki, M. and Vahtera, J. (2002). Organizational justice: evidence of a new psychosocial predictor of health. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 105–108. doi:10.2105/AJPH.92.1.105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G. and Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavioral Research Methods, 39, 175–191. doi:10.3758/BF03193146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ganzach, Y. (1997). Misleading interaction and curvilinear terms. Psychological Methods, 2, 235–247. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.2.3.235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, D. and Williams, P. (1988). GHQ: A User's Guide to the General Health Questionnaire. Winsor, UK: NFER-Nelson.Google Scholar
Hall, D. S. (2007). The relationship between supervisor support and registered nurse outcomes in nursing care units. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 31, 68–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Häusser, J. A., Mojzisch, A., Niesel, M. and Schulz-Hardt, S. (2010). Ten years on: a review of recent research on the job demand-control(-support) model and psychological well-being. Work & Stress, 24, 1–35. doi:10.1080/02678371003683747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heponiemi, T.et al. (2007). Productivity and employees' organizational justice perceptions in long-term care for the elderly. Research in Nursing & Health, 30, 498–507. doi:10.1002/nur.20205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heponiemi, T.et al. (2011). The effects of ownership, staffing level and organisational justice on nurse commitment, involvement, and satisfaction: a questionnaire study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 48, 1551–1561. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2011.05.015.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, J. V. and Hall, E. M. (1988). Job strain, work place social support, and cardiovascular disease: a cross-sectional study of a random sample of the Swedish working population. American Journal of Public Health, 78, 1336–1342. doi:10.2105/AJPH.78.10.1336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karasek, R. A. (1985). Job Content Questionnaire and User's Guide. Los Angeles: Department of Industrial and Systems engineering, University of Southern California.Google Scholar
Karasek, R. and Theorell, T. (1990). Healthy Work. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Kivimaki, M., Elovainio, M., Vahtera, J., Virtanen, M. and Stansfeld, S. A. (2003). Association between organizational inequity and incidence of psychiatric disorders in female employees. Psychological Medicine, 33, 319–326. doi:10.1017/S0033291702006591.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muhonen, T. and Torkelson, E. (2003). The demand-control-support model and health among women and men in similar occupations. Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 26, 601–613. doi:10.1023/A:1026257903871.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pekkarinen, L., Sinervo, T., Elovainio, M., Noro, A. and Finne-Soveri, H. (2008). Drug use and pressure ulcers in long-term care units: do nurse time pressure and unfair management increase the prevalence? Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17, 3067–3073. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02445.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pitfield, C., Shahriyarmolki, K. and Livingston, G. (2011). A systematic review of stress in staff caring for people with dementia living in 24-hour care settings. International Psychogeriatrics, 23, 4–9. doi:10.1017/S1041610210000542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodwell, J., Noblet, A., Demir, D. and Steane, P. (2009). Supervisors are central to work characteristics affecting nurse outcomes. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 41, 310–319. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.2009.01285.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Santor, D. A. and Coyne, J. C. (1997). Shortening the CES-D to improve its ability to detect cases of depression. Psychological Assessment, 9, 233–243. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.9.3.233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selye, H. (1974). Stress Without Distress. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
Tabachnick, B. G. and Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using Multivariate Statistics, 5th edn. Boston: Pearson Education Inc.Google Scholar
van der Doef, M. and Maes, S. (1999). The Job Demand-Control (-Support) model and psychological well-being: a review of 20 years of empirical research. Work & Stress, 13, 87–114. doi:10.1080/026783799296084.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waldenstrom, K., Lundberg, I., Waldenstrom, M. and Harenstam, A. (2003). Does psychological distress influence reporting of demands and control at work? Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 11, 887–891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xie, J. L. and Johns, G. (1995). Job scope and stress: can job scope be too high? Academy of Management Journal, 38, 1288–1309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar