Correlation between psychological contract, psychological capital and work engagament in ICU nurses

Abstract

Objective To explore the status quo of psychological contract, psychological capital and work engagement in ICU nurses and to analyze the correlation between the three. Methods Totally 218 ICU nurses from 3 ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in Wenzhou were selected using convenient sampling between July and November 2017 and investigated with the general information questionnaire, Nurses Psychological Contract Scale, Psychological Capital Questionnaire-Revision (PCQ-R) in Chinese and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) . Totally 218 questionnaires were distributed, and 213 valid questionnaires were collected. Results The scores of the 213 ICU nurses totaled (75.03±13.16) for psychological contract, (90.74±9.57) for psychological capital, and (34.43±5.27) for UWES-9; There was a positive correlation between ICU nurses' psychological contract and UWES-9, between psychological capital and UWES-9, and between psychological contract and psychological capital (P<0.01) ; there was statistical different in the total UWES-9 scores between ICU nurses with different sex, professional title and education background (P<0.05) ; and psychological capital plays a mediating role between psychological contract and work engagement, whose mediating effect accounted for 54.22% of the total effect. Conclusions ICU nurses' work engagement is affected by their psychological contract and psychological capital, and psychological capital plays a mediating role between psychological contract and work engagement. Key words: Nurses; ICU; Psychological contract; Psychological capital; Work engagement