Linkage between role stress and work engagement among specialty nurses: a cross-sectional study of China

Specialty nurses play a significant role in improving patient care; however, little is known about the factors affecting their work engagement. This study aimed to explore the relationship between role stress and work engagement among specialty nurses in China.

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was applied in this study.

The study was conducted in the Henan Provincial People's Hospital in China.

From March to April 2023, we conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study, using convenience sampling to recruit 972 specialty nurses from 42 specialised fields in China.

An online questionnaire survey was conducted using the Basic Information Questionnaire, Role Stress Scale and Specialty Nurse Work Engagement Scale. The collected data were analysed by using SPSS 21.0 software. The differences in total work engagement scores between subgroups were investigated using a single-factor analysis of variance. A Spearman's rank correlation and a Pearson's correlation were used to determine the relationship between general information, role stress and work engagement. A ridge regression analysis explored the impact of role stress on work engagement.

The total score of role stress was (52.44±19.92) and the total score of work engagement was (140.27±17.76). Among the scores of various dimensions of specialty nurses' work engagement, the standardised score for work attitude was the highest (4.54±0.56), followed by work values (4.46±0.64); the standardised score of work enthusiasm and focus was the lowest (4.22±0.64). Additionally, role ambiguity (r=-0.352, p<0.001), role conflict (r=-0.367, p<0.001), role overload (r=-0.313, p<0.001) and role stress (r=-0.380, p<0.001) were negatively correlated with work engagement. The total score of role stress was negatively correlated with the total score of work engagement; the results of ridge regression analysis showed that age, professional title and role stress explain 14.6% of the variance in work engagement.

Our study found that specialty nurses' work engagement was mid-level or above. Role stress was significantly and negatively correlated with specialty nurses' work engagement, which was an important predictor of their work engagement. Nursing managers should instate effective measures to reduce role stress, thereby increasing work engagement.