Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the serial-multiple mediation effect of professional identity, psychological capital (PsyCap), work-related stress, and work-related wellbeing among intensive care unit (ICU) nurses in China. The cross-sectional survey was conducted from January 2017 to May 2017 in two Grade III A general hospitals (with more than 2000 beds) in Jining, Shandong Province, China. Cluster sampling was used to recruit participants from the two hospitals. A total of 330 ICU nurses participated in the study. The nurses’ work stress scale, Chinese nurse’s professional identity scale, the PsyCap questionnaire, and Chinese work-related wellbeing scale were used to collect the data. Descriptive analysis, independent-samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation analysis, linear regression analysis, and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data (P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant). The average score for the work-related wellbeing of ICU nurses was 85.91 ± 13.94. Work-related stress, professional identity, and PsyCap correlated significantly with work-related wellbeing. The major predictors of work-related wellbeing were PsyCap, work-related stress, professional identity, and monthly salary. The serial-multiple mediation effects of professional identity and PsyCap in the relationship between work-related stress and work-related wellbeing were statistically significant. Positive professional identity and PsyCap were sequentially associated with decreased work-related stress, which in turn was related to increased work-related wellbeing among ICU nurses. Therefore, this study aims to explore the impact of ICU nurses’ work-related stress on work-related wellbeing, as well as the mediating effect of professional identity and PsyCap. It is hoped that hospital care managers will pay attention to the mental health of ICU nurses, increase their professional identity, and reduce work-related stress to improve the quality of the ICU nursing service and stabilize nursing work.
Highlights
Nurses in the intensive care unit (ICU) are under more continuous stress than nurses in other general wards because of their high acuity, their heavy workload, the accidental death of patients, and perceptual conflicts with patients or other staff members (Liu, 2012; Liu et al, 2018)
We propose the following hypotheses: (1) workrelated stress, professional identity, and psychological capital (PsyCap) have different effects on work-related wellbeing, (2) professional identity serves as a moderator between work-related stress and work-related wellbeing, (3) PsyCap serves as a moderator between workrelated stress and work-related wellbeing, and (4) professional identity and PsyCap serves as moderators between work-related stress and work-related wellbeing
92.4% of the ICU nurses had worked for 1–10 years, and 81.2% were general clinical nurses
Summary
Nurses in the intensive care unit (ICU) are under more continuous stress than nurses in other general wards because of their high acuity, their heavy workload, the accidental death of patients, and perceptual conflicts with patients or other staff members (Liu, 2012; Liu et al, 2018). A previous study suggested that ICU nurses experienced a high level of burnout, and in the same study, a correlation between the degree of burnout and spiritual wellbeing was established (Yazdannik et al, 2012). This finding indicated that work-related stress affected the workrelated wellbeing of ICU nurses. Previous studies showed that professional identity reduced job-related burnout, accelerated interest at work, improved work enthusiasm and quality of care, and kept the nursing team together (Deng et al, 2013; Duan et al, 2017)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
