Ratanawadee Chontawan

Transformational leadership: effect on the job satisfaction of Registered Nurses in a hospital in China

AIM The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between the transformational leadership of nurse managers and job satisfaction among clinical Registered Nurses at a tertiary care hospital in China. BACKGROUND The healthcare system is changing rapidly. Research in Western countries has shown that transformational leadership affects job satisfaction. However, very little research related to this subject has been conducted in healthcare settings in China. METHODS The sample consisted of 238 nurses who work at a tertiary care hospital in China. Data were collected from April to August 2006. Research instruments included a demographic data form, a Leadership Practice Inventory and a Job Satisfaction Scale for clinical registered nurses. FINDINGS Both the transformational leadership of nurse managers and job satisfaction among clinical Registered Nurses were at a moderate level. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the transformational leadership of nurse managers and job satisfaction (r = 0·556, P < 0·001). CONCLUSION The findings indicate that the transformational leadership of nurse managers could have an effect on the job satisfaction of clinical Registered Nurses.

Factors influencing fatigue in Chinese nurses

Factors predicting fatigue in Chinese nurses were examined in a descriptive, correlational study. The participants were 581 nurses working in general hospitals in Chengdu City, China. The study instruments included the Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery Scale, the Job Content Questionnaire, the Exposure to Hazards in Hospital Work Environments Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Job Dissatisfaction Scale, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Pearsons correlation, F statistics, and multiple regression. The findings revealed that 61.7% of the variance in chronic fatigue and 54.9% of the variance in acute fatigue were explained by the independent variables. Intershift recovery was the most important variable in the explanation of acute fatigue, while acute fatigue was the most important variable in the explanation of chronic fatigue. Different intervention strategies should be implemented regarding the different influencing factors of acute and chronic fatigue.

Verifying Quantitative Stigma and Medication Adherence Scales Using Qualitative Methods among Thai Youth Living with HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS-related stigma has been linked to poor adherence resulting in drug resistance and the failure to control HIV. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine stigma and its relationship to adherence in 30 HIV-infected Thai youth aged 14 to 21 years. Stigma was measured using the HIV stigma scale and its 4 subscales, and adherence was measured using a visual analog scale. Stigma and adherence were also examined by in-depth interviews. The interviews were to determine whether verbal responses would match the scale’s results. The mean score of stigma perception from the overall scale and its 4 subscales ranged from 2.14 to 2.45 on a scale of 1 to 4, indicating moderate levels of stigma. The mean adherence score was .74. The stigma scale and its subscales did not correlate with the adherence. Totally, 17 of the respondents were interviewed. Contrary to the quantitative results, the interviewees reported that the stigma led to poor adherence because the fear of disclosure often caused them to miss medication doses. The differences between the quantitative and the qualitative results highlight the importance of validating psychometric scales when they are translated and used in other cultures.

Factors influencing the development of a Thai health-promoting faculty of nursing: an ethnographic exploration.

Universities can make a significant contribution to improve population health through encouraging faculty members and universities to focus on health promotion, using a health-promoting framework. This qualitative study explored factors influencing the development of a health-promoting nursing faculty in a Thai university. Data were collected via in-depth interviews of 15 nursing academics and four academic support staff, and fieldwork observations. Data were analyzed using Spradleys ethnographic approach. Findings included informants perceiving that the achievement of a health-promoting educational organization is dependent on a number of contexts, including the presence of the national health policy regarding health promotion, the policies and actions of a university, faculty administrative contexts, organizational culture, ThaiHealth actions and support, profession-related factors, time limitations, the physical environment, and personal factors. Moreover, the development of health-promoting faculty within nursing should be based on the existing support in a university and faculty. Factors impeding such development must determine whether health promotion and well-being are to be achieved as a foundation for faculty work, and the mission of a university within a healthy settings approach.

Factors predicting quality of work life among nurses in tertiary-level hospitals, Bangladesh

AIM This study examined the level of quality of work life and predictability of years of education, monthly income, years of experience, job stress, organizational commitment and work environment on quality of work life among nurses in tertiary-level hospitals in the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. BACKGROUND There is an acute shortage of nurses worldwide including Bangladesh. Quality of work life is important for quality of patient care and nurse retention. Nurses in Bangladesh are fighting to provide quality care for emerging health problems for the achievement of sustainable development goals. METHODS We collected data from 288 randomly selected registered nurses, from six tertiary-level hospitals. All nurses were requested to fill questionnaire consisted of Demographic Data Sheet, Quality of Nursing Work Life Survey, Expanded Nursing Stress Scale, Questionnaire of Organizational Commitment and Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics and multiple regression. RESULTS The quality of work life as perceived by nurses in Bangladesh was at moderate level. Monthly income was found as the best predictor followed by work environment, organizational commitment and job stress. DISCUSSION A higher monthly income helps nurses to fulfil their personal needs; positive work environment helps to provide quality care to the patients. LIMITATION Quality of work life and predictors measured by self-report only may not reflect the original picture of the quality of work life among nurses. CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS Findings provide information for nursing and health policymakers to develop policies to improve quality of work life among nurses that can contribute to quality of nursing care. This includes the working environment, commitment to the organization and measures to reduce job stress.

An ethnography of health-promoting faculty in a Thailand university.

SUMMARY Universities are important locations to develop best practice in becoming healthy places, within the focus of the Healthy Cities movement of the World Health Organization. This ethnographic study determined the meaning of the concept of ‘health-promoting faculty’ with 46 key and general informants in two faculties at a health sciences campus in northern Thailand. The campus developed as a healthy campus setting over a 6-year period and so gathering information from informants regarding their understandings about health-promoting faculty (HPF) are important to ensure that common goals are achieved. Data were collected using in-depth individual and focus group interviews, documents and field observations. Spradley’s ethnographic approach was employed for data analysis. Findings revealed that those within the faculties of pharmacy and nursing had different meanings regarding ‘health-promoting faculty’. Twenty informants of the pharmacy faculty had been encouraged to adopt their own perspectives about health promotion (HP) meanings. However, 26 informants from the faculty of nursing collaboratively considered the meaning to be ‘a well-being organization where the members aimed to create holistic health among the faculty’s population in an environment supportive of health’. We concluded that how an HPF is to be developed should be taken into consideration, and that goals and directions should be clear faculty members are to share common goals to promote a healthy university. In addition, to evaluate the quality of HPF development, procedures should be processed consistently within the meaning of the concept of HP in relevant settings.