Nurses' job crafting, work engagement, and well-being: a path analysis

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Occupational Health
• Psychology

Background:

• Nurses' well-being is a critical factor at both individual and organizational levels.
• Existing research on the interplay between nurses' job crafting, work engagement, and well-being is limited.
• This study addresses the scarcity of research by investigating these relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the direct and indirect effects of job crafting and work engagement on nurses' well-being.
• To confirm the mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between job crafting and well-being.
• To provide empirical evidence for strategies aimed at improving nurses' well-being.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 207 nurses from two centers in July 2022.
• Data were collected using validated instruments: a well-being scale, a job crafting scale, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES).
• Path analysis was employed to evaluate the proposed model, with goodness of fit indices assessed.

Main Results:

• Job crafting and work engagement showed strong positive correlations with nurses' well-being.
• The path model demonstrated adequate fit, supporting the proposed relationships.
• Work engagement significantly mediated the relationship between task job crafting and psychological well-being (Effect: 0.15, 95% CI: 0.08-0.22).
• Work engagement also mediated the relationship between relational job crafting and social well-being (Effect: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.11-0.38).

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest that enhancing relational job crafting can improve nurses' social well-being.
• Improving task job crafting is recommended to boost nurses' psychological well-being.
• Human resource management strategies focusing on job crafting can enhance work engagement and overall nurses' well-being.