Factors associated with level of empowerment of staff nurses in a private hospital in Iloilo City

Abstract

This descriptive-relational study aimed to determine the respondents’ personal characteristics, empowering work conditions and level of empowerment. It is also the goal of this study to find out whether significant relationships exist between variables. The respondents of this study were the 172 staff nurses of a private hospital in Iloilo City. Using the one-shot survey research design, data were collected employing a self-administered questionnaire composed of three parts. The first part elicited information pertaining to the respondents’ personal characteristics, specifically age, sex, civil status, and clinical experience. Part II was a 16-item questionnaire tailored from studies of Diaz(2006) and Tanaleon (2012). As to the last part of the study instrument, a 16-item questionnaire was adapted from the Nursing Empowerment Scale developed by Chandler and Laschinger (1996), which was modified to fit the culture of Filipino nurses and the present study. This instrument was subdivided into the four components namely, access to resources, administrative support, communication, and relationship with coworkers/involvement in decision-making. Each of these four mentioned components had four items each. Permission to administer the questionnaire was sought from the hospital director. Data were then processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 Software and were analyzed using frequency, percentage distribution and means for descriptive analysis. To test for relationships between and among variables Cramer's V and Gamma tests were used. Majority of staff nurses were 27 years old and below and predominantly female. Most of them were single who have been employed in the hospital for three years or less. Regarding the staff nurses’ degree of empowering work conditions in terms of access to resources, administrative support, communication, and relationship with coworkers/involvement in decision-making, it was noted that majority of respondents claimed that their work conditions are “highly empowering” (68 percent). However, two out of four (27.9 percent) perceived it to be “moderately empowering”. It should not be taken for granted that there is still a proportion (4.1 percent) who claimed that they have “poorly empowering” work conditions. Most (57.0 percent) of staff nurses claimed to be “highly” empowered by empowering work conditions while a little more than one-third (35.5 percent) were “moderately empowered”. However, seven in 100 staff nurses (7.6 percent) were “poorly empowered”. As to the access to resources, a little less than half (45.3 percent) of staff nurses said they were “moderately empowered” empowered by the access of resources. One third (33.1 percent) claimed that they were “highly empowered” by the resources used to render nursing care. However, two out of ten (21.5 percent) staff nurses claimed that they were “poorly empowered”. This includes staff nurses who find it difficult to acquire necessary equipment and temporary help such as personnel that were needed to perform their roles efficiently and effectively. Slightly more than half (52.3 percent) of respondents claimed that they were “moderately empowered” by the administrative support while four out of ten (39.5 percent) persons claimed that they were “highly empowered”. The fact that eight out of 100 (8.1 percent) staff nurses reported that they were poorly empowered should not be ignored as well. A number of staff nurses noted that the administration has offered them fewer chances to advance to higher positions. Some say that they poorly assumed different roles in their jobs. Communication between superiors and peers was evaluated by staff nurses on how information and expertise were shared. A little less than half (45.9 percent) of staff nurses indicated that they were “moderately empowered” while slightly a lesser proportion (44.2 percent) said that they were “highly empowered”. However, nine in 100 staff nurses (9.9 percent) claimed that they were “poorly empowered”. Some staff nurses claimed that they have poor communication with their superiors wherein they were rarely involved in planning of activities, preparation of budget, as well as in the review of vision, mission, goals, and policies of the institution. When it comes to the relationship with co-workers/involvement in decision making, findings indicate that more than half (52.9 percent) of staff nurses said that they were “Highly empowered” compared to a little more than one-third (37.8 percent) who indicated that they were “moderately empowered”. However, nine out of 100 (9.3 percent) staff nurses said that they were “poorly empowered”. This includes nurses who noted that their ideas inputs, and expertise were not valued during monthly meetings. Findings of the study further revealed that respondents’ personal characteristics such as age, civil status, and clinical experience were significantly related to their level of empowerment. Statistical analysis showed a significant relationship between degree of empowering work conditions and level of empowerment of staff nurses. Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were made: Majority of staff nurses in this study were young, female, and unmarried. They are new employees in the hospital having worked for less than four years. Majority of respondents perceived that they have “highly empowering” work conditions in terms of access to resources, administrative support, communication, and relationship with co-workers/involvement in decision-making. Majority of respondents were “highly” empowered with empowering work conditions. Personal characteristics such as age, civil status, and clinical experience of staff nurses were significantly related to their level of work empowerment. There was a significant relationship between the respondents’ degree of empowering work conditions and their level of empowerment. This confirms that when the environment is empowering, nurses are empowered. The more empowering the work conditions are, the more empowered the nurses are in an organization.