임상간호사의 자율성과 직무만족 관련요인의 인과관계 분석

The Causal Relationships among Nurses' Perceived Autonomy, Job Satisfaction and Realated Variables

The present study examined the causal relationships among nurses' perceived autonomy, job satisfaction, work environment (work overload, role conflict, situational support, head nurses' leadership), personal aspects(experiences, need for achievement, professional knowledge and skill) by constructing and testing a theoretical framework. Based on literature review nurses' perceived autonomy and job satisfaction were conceived of as outcomes of the interplay among work environment and personal characteristics. Work environment factors involved work overload, role conflict, situational support, and head nurses' leadership (task oriented leadership, relation oriented leadership). Personal charateristics included experiences, need for achievement, and professional knowledge and skill. Three large general hospital in Chonbuk were selected to participate. The total sample of 516 registered nurses represents a response rate of 92 percent. Data for this study was collected from July to September in 1998 by Questionnaire. Path analyses with LISREL 7.16 program were used to test the fit of the proposed conceptual model to the data and to examine the causal relationship among variables. The result showed that both the proposed model and the modified model fit the data excellently. It needs to be notified, however, that path analisis can not count measurement errors; measurement error can attenuate estimates of coefficient and explanatory power. Nevertheless the model revealed relatively high explanatory power. 42 percent of nurses' perceived autonomy was explained by predicted variables; 32 percent of nurses' job satisfaction was explained by by predicted variables. Tn predicting nurses' perceived autonomy the findings of this study clearly demonstrated the work overload might be the most important variable of all the antecedent variables. Head nurses' relation oriented leadership, situational supports, need for achievement, and role conflict were also found to be important determinants for nurses' perceived autonomy. As for the job satisfaction, role conflict, situational supports, need for the achievement, and head nurses' relation oriented leadership were in turn important predictors. Unexpectedly the result showed perceived autonomy have few influence on job satisfaction. The results were discussed, including directions for the future research and practical implication drawn from the research were suggested.