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Nurse-environment misfit and nursing practice
1School of Nursing, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia. m.takase@latrobe.edu.au
Aim Of The Study:
The purpose of the following descriptive correlational study was to investigate nurses' responses to the image discrepancy between the public and nurses, and its relationships with their self-concept, job satisfaction and performance.
Background:
It has been long said that nurses live in a dual structure wherein the nurse's journey toward professionalization is constrained by nursing stereotypes in a society. This duality of the nursing universe is assumed to have created a person-environment misfit which could lead to nurses' job dissatisfaction and low job performance. Nonetheless, little study has been done in this area.
Design/Methods:
The study was conducted in 1999 with ethical approval from an Australian University. A sample of 80 Australian registered nurses participated by completing the Porter Nursing Image Scale, Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS) and Six-Dimension Scale of Nursing Performance. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation.
Results:
The results suggested that there is a discrepancy in the images of the nursing profession between nurses and the public, which can contribute to the nurse-environment misfit. The results also supported a negative correlation of the misfit with nurses' job satisfaction and performance.
Conclusion:
Despite the limited sample size and characteristics, this study provides evidence to encourage nurses to improve the public image of nurses, which will enhance the professionalization of nursing.