Empowered nurses? Nurses in Norway and the USA compared.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Organizational Psychology
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Empowerment is crucial for nursing practice and patient outcomes.
• Laschinger's empowerment model, based on Kanter's theory, provides a framework for assessing nurses' experiences of power.
• Understanding cross-cultural and organizational influences on nurse empowerment is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the experiences of empowerment among nurses in a major USA university hospital and a major Norwegian university hospital.
• To investigate the extent to which formal and informal power influence nurses' overall empowerment.
• To identify demographic variables, such as leadership position, that differentiate empowerment experiences.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study utilizing Laschinger's empowerment model and instruments.
• Survey data collected from 590 nurses in Norway (70.5% response rate) and 135 nurses in the USA (55% response rate).
• Statistical analysis including variance explained by formal and informal power, and cross-tabulation with demographic variables.

Main Results:

• Formal power explained 51% of the variance in overall empowerment; formal and informal power together explained 62%.
• Norwegian nurses reported higher levels of informal power, while USA nurses reported higher levels of formal power.
• Leadership position was a significant demographic differentiator, with leaders experiencing greater empowerment in both samples.

Conclusions:

• While overall empowerment levels were similar, differences in formal and informal power exist between USA and Norwegian nurses.
• Organizational and cultural factors may play a role in shaping nurse empowerment, warranting further investigation.
• The methodology is robust for future nurse empowerment studies in diverse settings and during change initiatives.