A compassionate university for serious illness, death, and bereavement: Qualitative study of student and staff experiences and support needs.

Serious illness, death, and bereavement are common experiences within the work and study context. This study aims to explore the experiences and support needs of university students and staff confronted with serious illness, death, and bereavement. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 21 students and 26 staff. A thematic analysis resulted in three overarching themes: the university as a high-pressure environment; navigating the complex university information and support system; and disenfranchized grief. Four themes were identified in terms of what participants needed from the university: clear processes and procedures; flexibility in policy application; proactive support and recognition; and activities to enhance awareness and interpersonal communication skills. Findings from this study could enable higher education institutions to become more compassionate schools and workplaces.

Researching Compassionate Communities From an Interdisciplinary Perspective: The Case of the Compassionate Communities Center of Expertise.

Compassionate Communities are places and environments in which people, networks, and institutions actively work together and are empowered to improve the circumstances, health, and well-being of those facing serious illness, death, dying, and loss. The study of their development, implementation, and evaluation requires an interdisciplinary research approach that has hitherto been lacking. In 2020, 8 research groups from 4 faculties at Vrije Universiteit Brussel united in the interdisciplinary Compassionate Communities Center of Expertise (COCO) to investigate Compassionate Communities. This article describes the first results of COCO: (a) an interdisciplinary mode of collaboration, (b) a shared conceptual understanding and definition of Compassionate Communities, and (c) a shared research agenda on Compassionate Communities.

Citizenship Pressure as a Predictor of Daily Enactment of Autonomous and Controlled Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Differential Spillover Effects on the Home Domain.

This study questions the exclusive discretionary nature of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by differentiating between autonomous OCB (performed spontaneously) and controlled OCB (performed in response to a request from others). We examined whether citizenship pressure evokes the performance of autonomous and controlled OCB, and whether both OCB types have different effects on employees' experience of work-home conflict and work-home enrichment at the within- and between-person level of analysis. A total of 87 employees completed two questionnaires per day during ten consecutive workdays (715 observations). The results of the multilevel path analyses revealed a positive relationship between citizenship pressure and controlled OCB. At the within-person level, engaging in autonomous OCB resulted in an increase of experienced work-home conflict and work-home enrichment. At the between-person level, enactment of autonomous OCB predicted an increase in experienced work-home enrichment, whereas engaging in controlled OCB resulted in increased work-home conflict. The divergent spillover effects of autonomous and controlled OCB on the home domain provide empirical support for the autonomous versus controlled OCB differentiation. The time-dependent results open up areas for future research.

Getting the Work-Nonwork Interface You Are Looking for: The Relevance of Work-Nonwork Boundary Management Fit.

Recently, work-family scholars have empirically demonstrated the importance of congruence between employees' boundary management preferences and boundary management supplies provided by the work environment in relation to employee attitudes and behavior. However, a theoretically grounded construct that captures this congruence is lacking. The present study addresses this gap by developing the construct and measure of work-nonwork boundary management fit, based on the needs-supplies fit framework. We cross-validate the scale in three independent samples (n = 188, diverse group of employees, n = 75, employees from one hospital, and n = 81, employees from one car company) and in a fourth sample (n = 458, working parents), we demonstrated the importance of work-nonwork boundary management fit for employee well-being (i.e., stress and work-life conflict). In particular, we confirmed its unique role in predicting employee well-being, above and beyond workload and work interrupting nonwork behaviors. Hence, we argue for considering work-nonwork boundary management fit when studying how work-family policies and organizational culture affect employees in the workplace.

Need satisfaction at work, job strain, and performance: A diary study.

We performed a daily diary study to examine the mediating role of autonomy need satisfaction and competence need satisfaction in the relationships between job characteristics (i.e., job resources, challenge and hindrance demands) and strain and performance. For 10 consecutive working days, 194 employees reported on their daily job resources, challenge and hindrance demands, task performance, strain level, and satisfaction of the needs for competence and autonomy. Multilevel path modeling demonstrated that the within-person relationships between job resources, challenge and hindrance demands, and strain are mediated by autonomy need satisfaction, but not by competence need satisfaction. However, the relationships between job resources and hindrance demands, and performance are mediated by both competence and autonomy need satisfaction. Our findings show that organizations may benefit from designing jobs that provide employees with the opportunity to satisfy their basic needs for competence and autonomy. (PsycINFO Database Record

Attention to nurses' rewarding - an interview study of registered nurses working in primary and private healthcare in Finland.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To identify meaningful types of rewards and the consequences of rewards as expressed by Finnish registered nurses working in primary and private healthcare. BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found significant associations between nurses' rewards and both their commitment and job satisfaction. Furthermore, appropriate rewards can have beneficial effects on factors including workforce stability and occupational satisfaction that are highly important in times of nurse shortages. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, qualitative interview study. METHODS: Data were collected via individual semi-structured interviews (n = 20) with registered nurses working in Finland's primary and private healthcare, and subjected to qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Six meaningful types of rewards were identified by the registered nurses: Financial compensation and benefits, Work-Life balance, Work content, Professional development, Recognition, and Supportive leadership. Rewards encouraged respondents to perform their work correctly and reinforced occupational satisfaction, but also caused feelings of envy and stress. CONCLUSIONS: It is essential to pay attention to nurses' preferences for particular rewards and to reward management. When designing effective reward systems for registered nurses, it is not sufficient to provide financial rewards alone, as various kinds of non-financial rewards are both meaningful and necessary. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: When trying to improve registered nurses' commitment and job satisfaction through reward management, it is important to listen to nurses' opinions to create a reward system that integrates financial and non-financial rewards and is fair from their perspective. Healthcare organisations that offer registered nurses a holistic reward system are more likely to retain satisfied and committed nurses at a time of increasing nursing shortages.

Psychological Detachment Mediating the Daily Relationship between Workload and Marital Satisfaction.

Scholars already demonstrated that psychologically detaching from work after workhours can diminish or avoid the negative effects of job demands on employees' well-being. In this study, we examined a curvilinear relationship between workload and psychological detachment. Moreover, we investigated the moderating influence of an employee's work-home segmentation preference on the relation between detachment and marital satisfaction. In addition, we applied and extended the stressor-detachment model by examining detachment as a mediator of the relation between workload and marital satisfaction. A total of 136 employees participated in our daily diary survey study during 10 consecutive working days. The results of the Bayesian 2-level path analyses revealed a negative linear and curvilinear relationship between workload and psychological detachment on a daily basis. Daily detachment positively related to marital satisfaction, with one's preference to segment work from home reinforcing this relationship. Moreover, psychological detachment fully mediated the daily relationship between workload and marital satisfaction. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Impact of satisfactions with psychological reward and pay on Chinese nurses' work attitudes.

PURPOSE: To examine the impact of satisfaction with psychological rewards (received from the head nurse and from physicians) and with pay on Chinese nurses' work attitudes. METHOD: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in China. A total of 413 nurses completed our survey. We examined the effect of satisfactions with psychological rewards and pay on work attitudes by performing a series of hierarchical regression analyses. FINDINGS: We found that both satisfaction with pay and satisfaction with psychological rewards from the head nurse significantly predicted work attitudes, whereas satisfaction with psychological rewards from physicians did not. CONCLUSIONS: Our results illustrate that when nurses feel satisfied with their pay and the psychological rewards received from the head nurse they exhibit more positive work attitudes.

Revisiting the impact of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on nurse turnover intention: an individual differences analysis.

BACKGROUND: Nurse turnover is an important contributing factor to the worldwide nursing shortage. Many studies have examined the antecedents of nurse turnover to gain a better understanding of the problem and help hospitals reduce their turnover rates. However, an important shortcoming of this research stream is its exclusive focus on explaining turnover behavior of the "average nurse", thereby disregarding individual differences between nurses and groups of nurses. OBJECTIVES: To examine individual differences in the relationships between two crucial turnover antecedents - job satisfaction and organizational commitment - and nurse turnover intention. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 287 nurses working for a variety of Belgian hospitals participated in the study. METHODS: A survey method was used to collect quantitative data, which were analyzed through standard multiple linear regression, mixture regression models and t-tests. RESULTS: In the total sample of hospital nurses, both job satisfaction and organizational commitment significantly predicted nurse turnover intention. However, subsequent individual differences analyses revealed the existence of two subgroups of nurses. In the satisfaction focused group, only job satisfaction was found to predict nurse turnover intention, whereas in the satisfaction and commitment focused group both job satisfaction and organizational commitment were related to turnover intention. Furthermore, nurses in the latter group displayed stronger turnover intention, were significantly younger and had less job tenure and organizational tenure than nurses in the satisfaction focused group. CONCLUSIONS: The debate on the antecedents of nurse turnover still continues, as the existing models fail to fully grasp nurse turnover. The present study identifies individual differences in nurse turnover antecedents among groups of nurses as a possible reason for the absence of one comprehensive turnover model that holds for the general nursing population. Further studies are needed in order to capture the total impact of the underlying individual differences in nurse turnover antecedents.

The Psychological Reward Satisfaction Scale: developing and psychometric testing two refined subscales for nurses.

AIM: This paper is a report of the development and psychometric testing of two refined subscales of the Psychological Reward Satisfaction Scale. BACKGROUND: Besides financial and material rewards, nurses also value psychological rewards: supportive and positively evaluated outcomes of the relationship an employee develops with the supervisor. Satisfaction with these rewards influences employees' attitudes. Recently, the Psychological Reward Satisfaction Scale was developed to measure an employee's satisfaction with psychological rewards. However, this instrument needs refinement before it can be used with a nursing sample. METHOD: We conducted a pilot study to test the reliability of the refined subscales. Forty nurses completed an online survey twice, with a time interval of 2 weeks. Afterwards, we gathered survey data with a larger sample of 337 nurses to examine the two subscales and their influence on turnover intention and the turnover antecedents job satisfaction and organizational commitment (measured by validated scales) in more detail. Data collection took place in Belgium in 2006. RESULTS: The two refined subscales each contained four items. A series of hierarchical regression analyses suggested that satisfaction with psychological rewards from the head nurse has a statistically significant influence on nurses' turnover intention, job satisfaction and affective commitment, whereas pay satisfaction has not. Satisfaction with psychological rewards from the physicians only explained nurses' affective commitment. CONCLUSION: When trying to motivate nurses through rewarding them, hospital managers should not only concentrate on financial rewards, but also pay attention to psychological rewards.

Measuring community nurses' job satisfaction: literature review.

AIM: This paper is a report of a review of the literature on community nurses' job satisfaction, including research using different scales and settings, what is known to date and directions for future research. BACKGROUND: Job satisfaction is one of the strongest predictors of intent to stay and retention of nurses. An adequate understanding of the sources of job satisfaction and their importance can aid policymakers in the community nursing setting to cope with the growing demand for its services. DATA SOURCES: A database of papers was established using ISI Web of Knowledge. Cited references were used to expand the database. Journals adding to the database were scanned for related research. This technique was repeated until no additional papers could be found. FINDINGS: Twelve job satisfaction scales were found, with striking differences in methodology, settings and sample characteristics of the studies concerned. A wide variety of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction sources is identified, but little is known on their relative importance. The Measure of Job Satisfaction and the Home Healthcare Nurses' Job Satisfaction Scale prove highly reliable and applicable. CONCLUSION: Findings on the level and sources of community nurses' job satisfaction are ambiguous. Of all the scales reviewed, the Home Healthcare Nurses' Job Satisfaction Scale seems most promising for use in future research, based on its strong psychometric properties and its specificity for the community nursing setting.

Freshmen in nursing: job motives and work values of a new generation.

AIM: To identify the features young nurses look for in their job (job motives) and the features they look for in work in general (work values). BACKGROUND: In view of the shortage of appropriately educated and motivated nurses, a study of the motivational profile of the new generation nurses may provide additional insights. METHOD: In a survey, 344 newly graduate Belgian nurses were questioned. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that many of the traditional attractions are still important, with the recurrent issue of altruism. Furthermore, men are found to be more attracted by career opportunities, executive powers and autonomy, while women tend to attach more importance to interpersonal characteristics. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: When considering the new generation nurses, budget cuts and restructuring must be handled with prudence, due to the risk of crowding out the altruistic and interpersonal work features, which determine the specificity of the nursing job.

Identifying nurses' rewards: a qualitative categorization study in Belgium.

BACKGROUND: Rewards are important in attracting, motivating and retaining the most qualified employees, and nurses are no exception to this rule. This makes the establishment of an efficient reward system for nurses a true challenge for every hospital manager. A reward does not necessarily have a financial connotation: non-financial rewards may matter too, or may even be more important. Therefore, the present study examines nurses' reward perceptions, in order to identify potential reward options. METHODS: To answer the research question "What do nurses consider a reward and how can these rewards be categorized?", 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with nurses were conducted and analysed using discourse and content analyses. In addition, the respondents received a list of 34 rewards (derived from the literature) and were asked to indicate the extent to which they perceived each of them to be rewarding. RESULTS: Discourse analysis revealed three major reward categories: financial, non-financial and psychological, each containing different subcategories. In general, nurses more often mentioned financial rewards spontaneously in the interview, compared to non-financial and psychological rewards. The questionnaire results did not, however, indicate a significant difference in the rewarding potential of these three categories. Both the qualitative and quantitative data revealed that a number of psychological and non-financial rewards were important for nurses in addition to their monthly pay and other remunerations. In particular, appreciation for their work by others, compliments from others, presents from others and contact with patients were highly valued. Moreover, some demographical variables influenced the reward perceptions. Younger and less experienced nurses considered promotion possibilities as more rewarding than the older and more senior ones. The latter valued job security and working for a hospital with a good reputation higher than their younger and more junior colleagues. CONCLUSION: When trying to establish an efficient reward system for nurses, hospital managers should not concentrate on the financial reward possibilities alone. They also ought to consider non-financial and psychological rewards (in combination with financial rewards), since nurses value these as well and they may lead to a more personalized reward system.