Relationships between job strain, body mass index, background information variables, and resilience as predictors of job satisfaction among hospital staff nurses

Abstract

Estimates indicate that by 2010 RN demand will exceed supply by over 400,000 full-time equivalents and by 2020 the RN shortage will increase to over 1 million. Turnover is a major contributor to the nursing shortage and job dissatisfaction is a well-established cause of nursing turnover. Understanding RN job satisfaction is an objective that is critical to keeping experienced nurses working in nursing and minimizing RN turnover. Many facets of RN job satisfaction have been examined in previous studies; however, much of the variance in job satisfaction remains unexplained. The purpose of this study was to explore job strain, body mass index, and background information variables (age, education, ethnicity, number of years in nursing, and perceived general health) as possible predictors of job satisfaction among hospital staff nurses. Resilience was examined for its mediating and moderating effects on the relationships between job strain and job satisfaction and body mass index and job satisfaction. The research design was cross-sectional and correlational. Surveys were mailed to RNs across the state of Texas. Reliable instruments were used to measure hospital staff RN job satisfaction, job strain, and resilience. Body mass index was calculated based on self-reported height and weight. From a sampling frame of full-time, hospital staff RNs purchased from the Texas Board of Nursing, a random sample of 556 RNs was obtained. The response rate was 27.6% (n = 147). Results showed that 25.2% of the RNs sampled reported high job strain. Job strain was significantly related to body mass index, and high job strain was significantly negatively related to job satisfaction. High job strain explained 24.7% of the variance in job satisfaction. None of the background information variables were significantly related to job satisfaction. Resilience had a moderating effect on the relationship between job strain and job satisfaction. Resilience did not mediate or moderate the relationship between body mass index and job satisfaction. Future research should focus on creating a nurse-specific instrument that measures job strain in hospital staff RNs. Intervention studies that investigate the effects of resilience training on the job satisfaction of hospital staff RNs should also be conducted.