Relationship Between Psychological Empowerment and Nurses' Job Satisfaction: A Systematic Review and Correlational...

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Organizational Psychology
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Psychological empowerment, a motivational construct, influences work behavior and commitment.
• A positive association between psychological empowerment and nurses' job satisfaction is widely recognized, though previously debated.
• Understanding this relationship is crucial for improving nursing work environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and meta-analyze existing research on the relationship between psychological empowerment and nurses' job satisfaction.
• To quantify the strength and direction of this association.
• To provide evidence-based recommendations for healthcare administrators.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive search of CINAHL, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (2001-2024).
• Extraction of correlation coefficients, transformed to Fisher's Z, for pooled effect size calculation (r coefficient).
• Assessment of heterogeneity (I²), publication bias (Begg's, Egger's tests), and study quality.

Main Results:

• 18 studies with 6,353 nurses were included, demonstrating moderate to high quality.
• A pooled effect size of 0.512 (95% CI: 0.406-0.604) indicated a significant positive correlation between psychological empowerment and job satisfaction.
• Mild-to-moderate heterogeneity was observed across studies.

Conclusions:

• Psychological empowerment is significantly and positively associated with nurses' job satisfaction.
• Nurse administrators should implement strategies to foster psychological empowerment to enhance job satisfaction and decrease turnover/burnout.
• Further research is needed to establish a definitive causal relationship.