Perceived organizational support as a mediator between role clarity and work engagement among neurology specialist...

BACKGROUND: Specialist nursing has become an integral part of the healthcare system, with neurology specialist nurses playing vital roles in providing high-quality specialized care to patients with neurological disorders. Role clarity and work engagement (WE) are associated with various aspects of nursing practice and patient outcomes. Our aim was to investigate the levels of role clarity and WE among neurology specialist nurses in China and to explore how role clarity relates to WE. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between April 2025 and July 2025 in China. Through convenience sampling, a total of 343 neurology specialist nurses from 11 provinces were initially invited, of whom 279 completed an online survey. The survey included a questionnaire assessing sociodemographic characteristics, as well as the role clarity scale, the Perceived Organizational Support Scale (POSS), and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). A mediation model was employed to test direct, indirect, and total effects using the bootstrap method. The mediating effect of perceived organizational support (POS) was analyzed using the SPSS process macro (Model 4). RESULTS: A total of 266 valid questionnaires were included in the analysis. Among neurology specialist nurses in China, role clarity and WE were at moderate and high levels, respectively. There were significantly positive correlations among role clarity, POS, and WE (p < 0.001). Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that the positive relationship between role clarity and WE was mediated by POS (B = 0.758, 95% CI [0.510, 1.042]), whereas role clarity did not have a significant direct effect on WE (B = 0.061, 95% CI [-0.330, 0.424]). CONCLUSION: POS appeared to serve as a mediator in the positive relationship between role clarity and WE among neurology specialist nurses. Our findings highlight the value of clarifying the roles of these nurses and fostering a supportive climate to enhance perceived organizational support, strategies that are associated with improved work engagement. However, the observational nature of this study limits causal inferences, and further longitudinal studies are needed. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.