Nursing competency inventory and professional competence of graduating students in six Asian countries: A cross-sectional study

Moral distress, moral resilience, and job embeddedness among pediatric nurses

BACKGROUND

Nurses often face ethical issues in their daily work that can have an impact on their level of job embeddedness. And positive job embeddedness is essential to reduce burnout among nurses and improve professional retention in the medical industry. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between moral distress, moral resilience, and job embeddedness.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the relationship between moral distress, moral resilience, and job embeddedness, and explore the mediating role of moral resilience between moral distress and job embeddedness among nurses.

DESIGN

A quantitative, cross-sectional study.

METHODS

Nurses from a number of tertiary general hospitals in central China were surveyed and assessed using the Moral Distress Scale, the Nurse Moral Resilience Scale, and the nurse job embeddedness Scale from February to March 2023. The study was conducted in line with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

All study procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of Hunan Normal University (No. 2023-313).

FINDINGS

Moral distress was positively correlated with moral resilience (β = 0.525, p < 0.01) and negatively correlated job embeddedness (β = -0.470, p < 0.01). Moral resilience partially mediated the relationship between moral distress with job embeddedness (β = -0.087, p < 0.01).

DISCUSSION

The findings reveal a relationship between moral distress, job embeddedness, and moral resilience among nurses.

CONCLUSION

Moral distress and moral resilience are important correlates of job embeddedness in nurses. Interventions to reduce moral distress and increase moral resilience may have potential benefits for improving nurses' job embeddedness. It is recommended that clinical nursing administrators create a favorable ethical atmosphere, educate nurses about ethics, and increase nurses' moral resilience.

Moral courage, burnout, professional competence, and compassion fatigue among nurses

BACKGROUND

Moral courage is the ability to defend and practice ethical and moral action when faced with a challenge, even if it means rejecting pressure to act otherwise. However, moral courage remains an unexplored concept among middle eastern nurses.

AIM

This study investigated the mediating role of moral courage in the relationship between burnout, professional competence, and compassion fatigue among Saudi Arabian nurses.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Correlational, cross-sectional design following the STROBE guidelines.

PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT

Convenience sampling was used to recruit nurses (n = 684) for four government hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Four validated self-report questionnaires (Nurses' Moral Courage Scale, Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and Nurses Compassion Fatigue Inventory) were used to collect data between May to September 2022. Spearman rho and structural equation modeling analyses were employed to analyze the data.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The ethics review committee of a government university in Ha'il region, Saudi Arabia, approval this study (Protocol no.: H-2021-012; Approved: 08/022,021). Participants were fully explained the study aims, and consent was voluntarily secured.

RESULTS

The emerging model showed that burnout had a direct and positive influence on compassion fatigue, while professional competence had a direct, negative effect on compassion fatigue. Moral courage had a small and direct but negative influence on compassion fatigue. Mediation analyses also indicated that moral courage significantly mediated the indirect effects of burnout and professional competence on compassion fatigue.

CONCLUSION

Moral courage can be a crucial aspect in preserving the psychological and mental health of nurses, particularly under stressful conditions. Therefore, it is advantageous from an organizational and leadership standpoint to implement measures such as programs and interventions to foster moral courage among nurses.

Newly graduated nurses' perceptions of their professional role and professional competency: a qualitative focus group study

BACKGROUND

In recent years, complex and rapidly changing healthcare settings have placed high demands on nursing graduates, who must effectively assume new professional roles with a wide variety of competencies. However, in an ever-altering environment it is impossible to teach students everything. This means that assessing nursing students' perceptions of their ability to practise their competencies and assume their professional roles is critical for faculty to further develop the nursing education curriculum and to assist healthcare organisations in supporting the transition of graduates. The aim of the study was to explore newly graduated nurses' perceptions of their new professional role and professional competency associated with this role.

METHODS

A qualitative study using the focus group method. The purposive sample included 18 nursing graduates with an average of 29 years, most of whom were female. The average time that had elapsed since graduation was 1.5 years. Four face-to-face focus group interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was employed to identify themes and subthemes.

RESULTS

Three main themes describing newly graduated nurses' perceptions were found: (1) significance of the transition period; (2) commitment to the nursing profession; and (3) perceived needs and challenges to professional competency.

CONCLUSION

The transition from a safe academic environment to turbulent clinical practice is shaped by both graduates' expectations and reality. The results of the study indicate a high level of commitment to the profession immediately after graduation and point to groups of competencies that need greater emphasis in the nursing curriculum. Although the responsibility for adequately preparing and supporting nursing students for their new professional roles rests with faculty and healthcare organisations, the responsibility for professional development should also lie on the students themselves.

Psychometric testing of the nurse professional competence scale Arabic version: An exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses

AIM

To translate the Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form English version into Arabic and psychometrically validate its properties among Saudi citizen nurses.

BACKGROUND

Evaluating nurses' professional competence is vital in delivering safe, cost-effective care and developing healthcare systems. However, psychometrically reliable and validated nurse competence scales in Arabic-speaking countries remain scant.

DESIGN

A descriptive cross-sectional design adhering to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines.

METHODS

Participant nurses (n = 598) were conveniently recruited from four government-owned hospitals and completed the Arabic-translated 35-item Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form. We used Spearman's rank-order correlation, exploratory factor analysis, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test, and confirmatory factor analysis to analyze the data.

RESULTS

After exploratory factor analysis and reliability analyses, several items of the Arabic-translated 35-item Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form were omitted due to high inter-item correlations and low factor loading difference. The Arabic version of the Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form was reduced to 21 items, consisting of a three-factor structure: Professional Care Pedagogics, Holistic Value-Based Care, and Direct Nursing Care. Results also demonstrated that the revised three-factor structure had good overall scale reliability, good subscale internal consistencies, and acceptable construct validity using the confirmatory factor analysis.

CONCLUSION

The 21-item Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form Arabic version is a useful scale, having demonstrated construct validity and reliability. Therefore, nurse managers in Arabic-speaking nations could assess their nurses' professional competence using the 21-item Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form Arabic version to develop proactive programs that enhance professional competence.

Assessing perceptions about critical thinking, motivation learning strategies in online psychiatric and mental health nursing education among Egyptian and Saudi undergraduate nursing students

BACKGROUND

The pandemic context prompts nursing students to be involved in online learning. Researchers indicated that critical thinking develops through the learning process, but the link between critical thinking and online learning in nursing does not have sufficient evidence.

AIM OF STUDY

This research examines student perceptions about critical thinking, motivation, and learning strategies in online psychiatric nursing education among nursing students at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University in Saudi Arabia and Alexandria University in Egypt.

SUBJECT AND METHODS

An online survey was designed to collect data anonymously. A total of 75 Saudi undergraduates and 105 Egyptian nursing students who met the inclusion criteria participated. The online survey assessed three parts: socio-demographic data, critical thinking motivational, and cognitive processing strategy scales.

RESULTS

The current study found that using a motivating method for online learning inspired students to engage in critical thinking and cognitive processing strategies in a psychiatric and mental health nursing course, even in two different contexts.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that using motivational methods for online learning encourages students to engage in critical thinking and cognitive processing strategies in psychiatry and mental health care courses, even in two different settings.