Turkish nurses' assessments of their power and the factors that affect it

To explore nurses' self-assessments of power and their opinions regarding factors affecting power in Turkey using a cross-sectional, descriptive study.

In order to safely and cost-effectively care for patients, nurses must perceive themselves as powerful and have the use and control of power resources.

The study sample consisted of 297 nurses in six hospitals: two government hospitals, two university hospitals and two private hospitals. Data were collected using the Demographic Data Form and Power Question Form.

Nurses regarded themselves as 'quite powerful' regarding persuasion (53.2%) and referent power (43.4%). Many nurses also regarded themselves as having positional power and 'quite powerful' regarding, reward (44.1%) and legitimate power (34.7%). Nurses saw themselves as least powerful in resource power (48.1%). Individual, educational and organisational factors were the main factors affecting personal and positional power sources.

Turkish nurses regarded themselves as above average on being powerful in both the personal and positional power base but not in resource power.

We recommend that nurses, educators and managers develop strategies to support nurses' power as a way to enhance the patient care outcomes.